Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Sorcerer: The Clann by BJohn
   Chapters 21 - 30 01/2/07
   ------
   Chapter 21
   KATHLEEN (Saturday 2/25)
   Henry got down to business, "Okay, guys.  Mario, P&V and I went over a
lot of things.  What we'll do today is train you on the firewall, the VPNs
and the probes; they're easy to set up and establish since they're fairly
static.
   "We'll start the transcription training then you can practice it in your
spare time.  You can ease over from what you're doing now at your own pace;
there's no requirement to use the technique, but it may help your
throughput."
   For the firewalls, Pat taught us exactly how to set up the three layers
and how we could get out for probes and perceptions.  Each of us practiced
for a couple minutes and found they were quite straightforward once we knew
how.
   Henry taught us how to do the inside probes they'd used on us in Redmond
then how to modify them slightly so even the itching was gone.  Cool!
   Patrick showed us how to _clamp_ onto a standard VPN and get data; if
needed, we could have several spirits doing it at once to get the best
information return.  When we got good at that, he taught us how to modify
the standard VPN and make it more resistant to tapping.
   He told us, "Remember, the first-level firewall has our booby-trapped
data inside.  If someone actually uses it, they'll probably be wide open to
us.  In the meantime, we might want to use the same VPN type between a
couple of us with false or misleading information so they can tap it and
hang themselves some more.  We want to be able to run the entire gamut of
appearing to be "normal" people all the way up to our third-level security
smoothly without any effort or trace."
   Valerie said, "Henry, how about you give us a standard three-tier
firewall." He did.
   Valerie went on, "We know that a standard probe into the person sets off
the internal alarms." She demonstrated the probe and Henry said, "Yep, no
doubt."
   She said, "When you first built the single-layer firewall, Henry
mentioned that with enough power, someone might possibly push through it
anyway.  Let's put some oomph behind the probe now."
   We _felt_ the probe get more powerful and penetrating.  Henry told us,
"It's an effort now to keep it in place.  It feels as if it would
eventually simply push through.  It's tough."
   Henry showed us how to set up a power-sharing VPN; they were quite a bit
different.  Henry said, "You know Janet has a lot of power.  She and I will
set one up." They did and it was almost impossible to detect.
   Valerie power-probed Henry again but this time he reported it was no
effort at all to repel it; Janet automatically fed him power.
   Patrick said, "You know how strong Bob's muscles are.  He has the
strength reserves to use an extremely broad range of force.  An extremely
light touch like he uses for manipulating cards or caressing a lady uses
only, say, 2% of the strength.  When he picks up a couple sacks of
concrete, he might use, say, 60% and can still easily carry them,
manipulate them and set them down easily.
   "If *I* tried the same thing, I'd probably be using 95% of my strength
just to pick up one and wouldn't have the reserves available to move it
around easily much less set it down with any control; I'd be more likely
just to drop it.
   "I've heard some rumors about something called the Sorcerer's Grip."
Everyone grinned at Ana and me.
   "Since Bob uses only a few percent of the power he has available, he's
got tremendous control.  The power-sharing VPN lets all of us work that
way. Each one in the power-sharing network has the combined power of the
rest to do whatever's needed.  Let's hook up everyone but Val and me."
   Each of the nine of us set up a power-sharing VPN to the other eight so
there was a maze of VPNs running around; we could have "optimized"
connections, but it was just as easy to set up and maintain however many we
wished.  Valerie told us, "Once they're set up, they use no power to speak
of.  We just 'ping' a couple times a second to ensure they're operational
and use them.  In about a second, you don't even notice them, but the
'load-sharing' is pretty much automatic."
   Pat and Val bounced random probes of varying strengths at each of us; we
rapidly learned to repel them with almost no effort as we drew on the VPNs
for the extra power.
   Henry said, "Now everyone drop their firewalls.  This is how we tend to
operate with 'just us chickens.' On the other hand, as Bob's pointed out a
couple of times, we haven't yet run across a really Billy Bad-Ass spirit.
If we did or we attracted one's attention or one 'stumbled' across us like
we are now, we *might* be dead meat.
   "So, put back the power-sharing VPNs without the firewalls.  Just plain
old spirits hooked together."
   Interesting.  That was easy enough.  Henry continued, "Now practice
setting up the second and third-level firewalls without the first-level. 
We need to be able to do it faster than someone could get a probe into us.
If they've got a probe going in that fast, they're probably pretty
formidable so we *want* them to get all the booby-trapped information
without even knowing we've got the other firewalls.  Okay, practice."
   P&V launched random probes at each of us until we could detect them and
set up our firewalls immediately.  We also created a tiny data thread in
the power-sharing VPN so others could immediately detect either power being
needed or someone attacking one of us.
   Henry told us, "I'm recommending we *always* have the power-sharing VPNs
up.  To start, probably a minimum of a three or four-way net.  For example,
the Wild Bunch will always have a three-way, while maybe Steven, Lucia,
Blake and Louise could have a four-way.  We tend to run around in groups a
lot anyway, so it shouldn't be any big deal.
   "This seems like a lot of work against something we don't even know
exists, right?  Well, it's like a cop wearing a bullet-proof vest.  You may
not need it for twenty years, but the one time you do it's worth all the
hassle.
   "We don't have maps marked with 'Here there be dragons' because we don't
even know if there *are* dragons.  On the other hand, if we are always
prepared to the best of our knowledge and abilities for a dragon flaming
us, we're a hell of a lot safer.  Something like car, home or fire
insurance; we may never need it but if we do, it's priceless.
   "I'd recommend while on probe patrol, the probers be power-sharing VPNed
to each other *and* to either Patrick or Valerie or both.  P&V probably
have more power individually than the rest of us put together."
   Valerie said, "Neither of us mind.  The power-sharing VPN _shares_ very
little data, so all parties still have any privacy they wish.  You're *our*
friends, *our* family and we want to contribute.  Link to us; we're
available 24/7."
   Patrick worked with us on probe transcriptions.  All of us got pretty
good at doing both the probe and the transcription using the keyboards and
mice as before.  He introduced us to the shortcut of working directly on
the circuitry, handed out charts and drilled us.
   "Each of you has at least one computer at home.  Practice.  Everything's
on the chart; the worst that can happen is you end up having to punch a few
keys anyway and the best that can happen is you increase your throughput
probably ten times.  Instead of using ten or twelve individual _touches_
while using a keyboard and mouse, you're down to one or two.  Not a
requirement but it could be useful."
   All righty then!  We'd been going for three hours now, time for evening
work.  Ana told them, "This training is on the clock.  Log your three hours
as training and the practice time you put in later also.  Timecards are due
Sunday night."
   As people were getting ready to leave, I pulled Valerie aside.  I asked
her, "What did you do to Don?  I've never seen him react quite that way."
   She laughed then apologized.  "Sorry, I keep forgetting.  Everyone Pat
and I have talked with has memories going back a long time.  Pat and I, for
whatever reason, have direct access to most of ours just as easily as you
can remember the first time you met Bob.
   "I've spent several thousand lifetimes as a courtesan, so I almost
automatically use the appropriate physical gestures or mannerisms to
produce the effect I want.
   She grinned and asked, "Remember the first time Bob touched Natalie's
breasts?"
   Lordy, do I.  My nipples went hard in less than a second.  No need to
reply.
   She giggled.  "I thought you would.  He's a very wise man.  He didn't
grab and maul them; he caressed them lightly and caringly, like a butterfly
landing, right?  On the other hand, can you remember times when he put
*lots* of pressure on them?  Perhaps last Christmas morning?"
   I remembered that too and soaked my panties.
   She said, "The rest of the ladies gave Don a solid hug and touch.  That
was totally fine, for them.  I could have picked up my shirt and bra and
flashed my thirteen-year-old tits at him; he would have been surprised and
turned on all right, but that's not what I wanted.  I wanted to turn him on
hard and fast and judged he needed the light touch.
   "I leaned in enough to compress my nipples a little so he could feel
them and just a touch of the breasts beneath.  I gave him a butterfly kiss
and barely touched him with my pelvis.
   "It immediately put the mystery there for him; thirteen-year-old tits
and pussy?  When Bob touched you the first time, did you want more almost
right away?"
   "God, did I!  After the first couple strokes on just my face, I wanted
to devour him -- and him to devour me!"
   "Yep.  That's what I did to Don.  Pretty nasty, now that I think about
it.  From now on, unless he and I *do* get together, he's always going to
have that mystery.  What does the rest of her feel like?  How about her
ass? What will her breasts be like?  hard?  soft?  what shape?  my nipples?
The biggest flirtation requires only the lightest touch.
   "Next time you want to flirt with someone and are ready to back it up
with action, touch them very lightly.  Push your nipple into an arm or back
so they can just feel the heat and pressure.  After a few times, they'll be
so turned on you'll be lucky to get out of the room with your panties on.
Even though you've had *very* intimate sex with both Bob and Don, every
meeting with them from now on starts off fresh.
   "Beware; it's a two-edged sword.  Remember, at least Bob knows the same
thing.  He may do it naturally, not intellectually, but it has the same
result.
   "Pat does it both intuitively and intellectually.  When we walk home
from here, we'll probably hold hands like the kids we are.  He'll probably
only do something like caress one little part of my hand with the tip of
his little finger, but between the hormones we've got flushing through us
and the fact we love each other so much, by the time we get inside I'll
probably tear his clothes off and try to fuck us out of our bodies -- and
succeed."
   ------
   SHERRY (Saturday afternoon/evening 2/25)
   We'd _shared_ Don's and Ana's honoring dance in the morning.  Such
wonderful joy and love!  Just being there in the sky with them aroused
Mario and me so much we could hardly wait, but we had things to do first.
   I took Mario over to meet my folks officially.  They aren't ones of us,
but they can _talk_ with each other a bit.  It's like a small enhancement
of the telepathy long-married folks have.
   I (and the rest of the gang) keep _inspecting_ them, but none of us sees
the potential to be more.  None the less, they're "good people" as Bob
says. They're ethical, honest and excellent parents.
   Dad's full California Spanish, while Mom (as she says) is Mixed Gringo.
Mario must have taken lessons from Steven, Henry and Bob; he charmed the
socks off them all!  He complemented Mickey (my younger brother) on how
cheerful he was and flirted with Sarah (younger sister).  She got red and
loved it!  Too bad neither of them are ones of us either.
   Mario's not wealthy, but JRD pays him well and he's been stashing it
since he came on board.  He took us all out to dinner; he flirted with Mom
and Sarah.  Dad grinned all the time and nodded his approval.  Sarah was
aroused and damp and everyone else knew it.  Mario _told_ me he had a
younger cousin who might get along real well with her.
   Every time Mario and I looked at each other, our love shown out.  We
spirit-hugged and _kissed_; we _pushed_ a bit of our feelings out to the
rest of my family so by the time we finished eating, there was no doubt in
any of their minds about our love.
   After dinner, my family went home after giving their approval once more.
Mario and I went right to his place for some snuggle-and-snog.
   He had a sparsely-furnished studio apartment in a decent section of
North Hollywood.  For a bachelor, he'd decorated okay.
   He laughed at me when I looked around!  He told me, "Bob's told me about
the female 'make-over-mind' and told me you'd want to make changes.  Be my
guest; within reason, it's all yours to command, Mi Enamorada."
   We walked around together inspecting and planning.  He caressed my neck,
my shoulders and my arms with an occasional touch on my back or hips. 
Every touch drove hot jolts of fire through me!
   We'd snogged a lot but almost everything had been above the shoulders.
Tonight, we were ready to fulfill our love.  He went around the room
lighting candles until their glow spread everywhere.
   We snuggled up on the love seat for a while; we knew we wouldn't be
there long.  We _linked_ sensations about 50%, and while we kissed and
caressed each other we _merged_, _hugged_ and _kissed_ above.  The energy
between us soared.
   By the time we moved towards the bed, we were completely ready.  I'd
already soaked my panties and _felt_ he was hard as a rock.  We _linked,
merged_ and _shaped_ ourselves to cover our bodies; as we slowly undressed
each other we admired each part we discovered.
   When he took off my bra and saw my breasts the first time, his gasp and
look of awe made me come!  It washed through us gently but made my knees so
weak I collapsed on the bed.
   Fuck!  He must have talked to Don or Bob!  He knew all my sensitive
spots, especially the two quarter-sized ones on the lower outside of each
tit and the one near the small of my back.
   He didn't just admire, he _worshipped_!  Each touch filled me with joy
and built our energy.  He worshipped my mouth, my eyes and nose, my neck
and down my chest to my breasts.  _"Your pechos are perfect.  Your skin is
so hot, it scorches my senses.  You are so beautiful, Enamorada, I can
hardly bear the joy you bring to me."_
   He kissed and nuzzled my breasts for a long time but didn't touch my
nipples.  I moaned, squirmed and tried to guide his mouth, but he avoided
them.  They'd puckered up so hard the areolae and some of the skin outside
was drawn up into them; they ached and longed for his touch!
   When finally he kissed one, a hot release flooded us!  As I moaned my
pleasure, he kissed the other; another release!  He went back and forth
kissing, licking and sucking them; I came and came and came!  So much joy
to endure!
   He nuzzled down to my naval and attacked!  More joy!
   He slowly drew my panties off; they were soaked and dripping.  He
worshipped my pussy with his hot breath, warm lips and wet tongue.  I came
more; our releases scorched us with their energy and I shrieked with
pleasure.
   Slipping two wet fingers inside, he went right to my G-spot and slowly
stroked it.  While rattling glasses in the kitchen, I told him, _"You've
been talking with someone!"_
   _"Yep.  Bob, Don, Ana and Kathleen told me exactly how to wring you out
until you collapse!  Relax now and let me give you all the pleasure I can,
Mi Enamorada.  Let me pleasure you until we die from the ecstacy of our
love!"_
   He stroked my G-spot and lightly licked my clit.  Fuck!  His every touch
released energy, yet more built up.  Thrashing my hips, I screamed now at
every release.
   _"I need you inside me, my Mario.  Come up, cover me and crush me! 
Control me totally and make me yours!"_
   For once he listened; he moved up and kissed me deeply.  I slid the head
around my flooding channel to make it wet and tried to push him inside to
fill my aching need.  His hips rode away and he told me, _"Slowly,
Enamorada, slowly."_
   He pressed in and slowly spread me open.  I came and screamed.  His hand
on my hip kept me from thrusting upwards, and he slid inside an inch at a
time.
   I came and screamed with every breath.  He finally pushed up against my
cervix and held still.S _"I love you, Sherry, Mi Enamorada.  I sing with
the rapture of being with you."_
   Pressing in harder, he moved his hips side-to-side and crushed my clit
against him.  I couldn't scream any louder, but I tried.  I came so hard my
body locked up completely; I couldn't breathe to scream but I could scream,
_"Mario!  Carino!  You fill me and make me whole!  I love you!"_
   I relaxed as best I could and let him take me completely as he wished.
He _felt_ me change.  Stroking out and in, he mashed and rubbed my clit
while solidly pushing my cervix.  SO GOOD!  I still couldn't breathe and
didn't care.  Each climax was more intense, and yet the energy around and
through us built higher.
   He pulled back and stroked without hitting my clit.  After a few
strokes, I could breathe again and screamed out, "MARIO!  I AM YOURS!"
   He thrust in *hard*, held deep and came inside me.  I screamed out my
last breath as the climax took us both; the energy around and through us
collapsed and drove us upwards in an orgasmic wave.
   He pounded in and out and flooded me with his cum while I eagerly thrust
up to meet him.  Releasing the wave completely, we rode it upwards as our
bodies thrashed, spasmed in rapture and screamed out our love.
   We had to pop outside completely; the energy was too much to endure any
longer.  Taking it with us, we soared into the evening sky leaving our
bodies still shaking.
   We danced and soared, making our own Northern Lights to express our
euphoria in our consummated love.  Bob, Kat and others came to meet us;
they spirit-hugged and _kissed_ us, congratulating us for our new-found
love and joy.
   Bob and Kat told us, _"Be happy and joyous!  Love is yours to nurture
and build into all it can be.  We love you both."_
   As the last of the energy dissipated, we dropped back to our bodies.  We
rolled them over so mine could breath easier and left them to drip-dry
while we went exploring.
   Visiting Venice Beach, we rode the rides, spied on lovers (and gave out
some wet panties and helped fill some underwear with cum) and surfed the
low waves until the sun set.
   We nudged the bodies back awake and took control again.  Oh my!  There
was a sopping wet spot on his bed over two feet across.  We grinned at each
other and shared gentle kisses and caresses.
   Carrying me to the shower, he washed me gently, caressing and admiring
me all the time.  So nice to have a man to love and to love me.
   I changed the bed and pad while he fixed us a small snack.  We cuddled
for a while on the sofa then went back to bed and made slow sweet love for
a long time.
   Leaving our bodies again, we checked out North Hollywood and Burbank. 
We dropped in at my place; by now everyone had gone to bed.  Oh!  Sarah was
dreaming of a man of her own while gently stroking herself to her fourth
orgasm!  Hot!  Mario told me, _"Let's talk to my cousin tomorrow; looks
like she's more than ready!  If she's anywhere near as sweet as you, Mi
Enamorada, he will fall in love with her at first sight."_
   We continued exploring for a while then went back and made love again.
Explore, make love, explore, wild frantic sex, explore...  all the night.
   ------
   (Sunday 2/26)
   Obviously Mario and I spent the night together.  In the morning, we
cleaned up the bed again, ate a HUGE breakfast and walked around his
neighborhood for a while.
   I went with Bob on his 1:00 with Riona; I figured it would take both of
us to keep her from jumping his bones the second she saw him!
   I was right.  Even as she opened the door, her nipples were hard, and we
could smell and _feel_ how wet she was.  I told her, "All in good time,
love.  The Honoring is even better after the wait."
   She smiled ruefully and told us, "Yes, but does the wait have to be so
long?"
   Bob asked, "Isn't that fla Douglas keeping you happy?"
   "Oh yes!  Every chance we get.  But Bob, you're in a class all by
yourself."
   Bob groaned and rolled his eyes.  I patted his arm and comforted him;
"That's okay, Sorcerer.  There's only eight more to go -- for the first
run. Oops!  I forgot!  Ana's mom Aileen Brady's aboard now -- then Thelma
Harris might be coming up!"
   He did his best imitation of collapsing into a puddle on the floor. 
Riona and I picked him up and sympathized with his plight.  Not!
   Riona asked, "Did you include yourself in that count, Sherry?"
   "Damn!  Forgot that.  Ceann, just 'cause I got me a man for myself now,
doesn't mean you get to skip me."
   Riona chimed in, "She probably *deserves* a right good shagging with the
Sorcerer's Wand."
   I added, "At *least* twice a month!" No mercy!
   Anyway, we did a brain dump of all the administration we'd developed for
running a Brain Trust.  We gave her a copy of the tutoring database
structure and a lot of hatting on handling "situations." She learned how to
set up an "assurance mill" to handle lots of people with the willies about
something, as well as specific handlings for some scenarios.
   I told her, "Remember, Bob and I are always available for questions. 
Sunshine doesn't have the experience we do, but she's still damned good!"
   We left her with a decent understanding of what to do and when.  She'll
do just fine.
   Bob and I went to Ana's and joined the probe group training.  Ana said
this was the last batch except for Frank and Thelma; if they were
interested on Monday, she'd train them then.
   Sunday evening, Mario took me to his parents' place in Sherman Oaks. 
They're *very* nice and were pleased with me.  We _inspected_ them; not a
lot of Potential but some possible sensitivity.  Good folk.
   ------
   ELIZABETH (Saturday 2/25)
   Saturday, Steven, Lucia and I visited Mary Shinto at the hospital. 
Hell, I'd be depressed just being there much less with what she'd gone
through and was facing.
   Mary was a delightful young lady.  When she and Lucia first saw each
other, they squealed and hugged warmly.
   Lucia said, "Damn, girl!  You've got all skinny on me!  Don't they feed
you around here?"
   Mary told her, "Yeh, but you can guess how appealing it is.  *You* are
looking fantastic!"
   Lucia hugged her again and told her, "That's all because of Steven here.
He brought me back to the light I never really knew was there.  Maybe we
can help you find a way out of all this mess you seem to be in."
   Mary got tears in her eyes.  "If only.  I haven't the foggiest idea what
I'm gonna do."
   I told her, "That's one reason we're here.  We've got some options you
might be interested in."
   By _inspecting_ her, we knew she was bright; her grades while she'd been
at school had been excellent.  All the way down, she was ethical and
honest. In addition to all that, she had a ton of power.
   We talked and _talked_ until they kicked us out.  That night, Steven and
Lucia brought her over (outside) and showed her where she would be staying,
showed her around the neighborhood and gave her a quick school tour.
   Her only real objection was the exchange.  She said, _"I can probably
get a job somewhere that doesn't require two full thumbs; that way I can at
least contribute something."_
   David and I told her, _"That's a good possibility.  We've got lines on a
*lot* of stuff you can do no matter what your physical condition."_
   We finally agreed she'd come stay with us as soon as we could get any
legalities worked out.  I was betting Evin could whip out enough paperwork
in a couple hours to bury the county Social Services.
   Evin was more than willing to help.  "I even have an old school buddy
practicing up there.  He knows the system pretty well, so I'll courier a
set of papers up, and he'll walk them through.  In fact, he's got a guest
room she could stay in if they kick her out before they go through."
   It was a good plan.
   ------
   EVIN (Monday evening 2/27)
   Clann meeting night.  Siobhan and her committee had already spread the
word we'd be talking about some very interesting things, even if they
weren't "important." The Customs Committee passed out papers with the
information we'd be talking about later.
   Around 8:00, I spoke first, "Jaysus we're getting a lot of people here!
I'm sure the Ceann can handle things, but we need to sort a few things out
to help.
   "First, I'd like to create a not-for-profit corporation named 'Clann
Reynolds' after our founder.  Quite a few of us now get income individually
from JRD, but the Clann itself has no income.
   "I make a motion we create a committee (shudder!) to investigate some
ways the Clann itself can create some income.  It doesn't necessarily have
to be much, but it does need some.
   "While any of the JRD owners are more than willing to cover any needed
costs, I believe the Clann needs to be independent of *any* outside
organization for its support.  For example, we're using Don and Ana's home
for this meeting, and they're supplying all the snacks and drinks.  In
addition to the wear and tear on their furniture, they pay for the goodies
and utilities.  The Clann itself should pay for things like that.  Do I
hear a second?"
   Several came immediately.  During the discussion, we formed a volunteer
committee of Valerie, David, Leone, Mama Sonora and Don.  I reminded them,
"In most organizations, the President is a de facto member of all
committees.  Since Bob is our Ceann, feel free to call on him for support."
   I grinned at him; he said, "Thanks heaps."
   I continued on the same subject, "We'll need officers of eighteen or
over: President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary.  You've already
elected Righteous Bob Reynolds as 'He Who Must Be Obeyed,' so that spot's
filled.  I nominate Kathleen Donovan as Treasurer; may nepotism run wild!"
   Her nomination was seconded and she was elected unanimously.
   David had already been primed, "I nominate Barbara O'Banain as
Secretary!"
   Barbara looked surprised, but Elizabeth seconded the nomination
immediately.  Again, elected unanimously; she got out her legal pad and
began taking minutes.
   Bellana nominated David as Vice President; he was elected unanimously.
   I added, "This is an example of an expense unique to the Clann: The
registration costs $150 per year so there needs to be income to handle it.
   "Now, I've been kicked out of a couple meetings because I'm a lawyer and
am required to report anything I consider might be an offense against the
law.  However, if the Clann were my client, I would be restrained by
client-attorney confidentiality..."
   I paused with my eyebrows raised.  Siobhan was also primed, "I make a
motion that Clann Reynolds retain the services of Evin Donovan for advice
and legal council at the rate of one dollar per month, starting at 8:00 PM
today."
   Everyone seconded and the motion passed unanimously.  Bob handed me a
dollar, and I handed back a receipt I'd already made out.  Now maybe I
could find out what the women had been whispering about the last several
weeks!
   Ana talked next about the Probe Patrol.  "Welcome new members to both
the Clann and the Patrol.  Meet Aileen and Donal Brady, my parents; most of
you have already met them at some of our Clann events.  They've already
helped a lot with our Clann Customs Committee and are on full day-time
Patrol.  On their *first* day they nailed a drug dealer and a white
slaver!"
   Lots of applause, cheering, spirit-hugs and _kisses_!
   "Next, sorta out of the blue, are Frank Duane and Thelma Harris.  Bob
and Natalie 'discovered' them last year; Frank has an extensive Military
Intelligence background and Thelma's got years as a policewoman in Detroit.
We'll copy all the probe or other investigative reports through Frank for a
look-see in case we miss something.  Give it up to Frank and Thelma!"
   Lots of applause!  Lots of physical hugs and kisses (Frank ate up the
women and Thelma beamed when all the men insisted on a solid hug and kiss)
as well as spirit-hugs, _kisses_, _high-fives_ and _welcomes_.
   Riona reported on expanding the Inner Circles.  "One thing we should do
is separate the Inner Circle activities from the Clann's.  The Inner Circle
belongs to a specific school and has specific activities related to that
school.  Granted, so far all the McCambridge Inner Circle are part of the
Clann, but all the Clann is not part of the Mickey C Inner Circle.
   "We talked Friday with the NHH Counselors who, by the way, are *both*
ones of us and have talked things over with Bob, the McCambridge Inner
Circle leader.  While I just said the Inner Circles and the Clann are
separate entities, they *do* overlap simply due to membership.  For
whatever insane reason, my sister and the O'Banain boys elected me the
Inner Circle leader for NHH.
   "Anyway, one of the things we talked about was succession in the Inner
Circles.  What I'd recommend *each* of you do is _inspect_ *every*
school-age person you run across.  We're going to see if the middle and
elementary schools would like to start an organization similar to the Brain
Trusts.  That will make the succession in the middle school and high
schools a walk in the park, since they'll already have trained, competent
personnel.
   "For example, Patrick and Valerie are in Harvard Middle School now and
will be at McCambridge next year as Freshmen.  Unless something really
strange happens, I expect them to be invited to the McCambridge Inner
Circle well before then.  Pat, Val, any chance you'd like to go to NHH next
year?"
   Big laugh.  P&V gracefully declined for the moment.
   "Anyway, _inspect_ *everyone*.  The dolt or asshole you see tomorrow
might have a sibling or other relative who's perfect for us.  Besides, the
parents might turn out to be ones of us and may wish to be part of the
Clann -- or even start their own clann!"
   Well said.
   I picked up again, "As a note, some things we may discuss later might
not be necessarily legal, as if I could now care.  May I recommend Madam
Secretary be extremely careful what she places in the minutes, especially
considering what I believe my wife is going to be talking about next?  The
minutes are legal records."
   Barbara was an old hand at that; the rest of the Clann got very
interested in a hurry.
   Chapter 22
   SIOBHAN (Monday evening 2/27 at the Clann Meeting)
   I got the stage.  Gotta make a little speech!  "First, thank you to the
Clann Customs Committee: Elizabeth, Ana, Don and Aileen and Donal Brady for
the work they put in."
   Ana piped up, "And Siobhan herself!"
   We got a round of applause.
   "I'm sorry; this was one committee the Ceann was *not* involved with
since he expressed hesitation at some of the preliminary suggestions."
   Cat-calls and raspberries to Bob.
   "Note the papers we passed out.  The white pages you may take with you,
but the light green ones may not leave this house.
   "First we looked at what or who *is* the Clann and how far it extends.
The Clann is an extended family formed for the mutual good and survival of
itself and its members.  The members are bound by family ties, mutual
commitments and mutual goals.  For example, Bob and Kathleen are bound by a
mutual commitment as mates and a commitment to common goals of the Clann.
David and Elizabeth Reynolds, Mama and Papa Sonora, Don and Ana Matthews,
Blake Merrill and Louise Adams, Aileen and Donal Brady are bound by both
legal family ties and mutual commitments.
   "While we currently don't have any members without a relationship,
that'll probably change.  Being in a relationship is *not* a requirement by
any stretch of the imagination.
   "The Clann's protection and assistance shall extend to the 'first
generation' of the immediate Clann members themselves, very similar to the
way we run the Probe Patrol.  For example, Sherry Stapley is the only one
so far in her family who is fully one of us and part of the Clann. 
However, the Clann's protection and assistance extends over her entire
family.
   "Riona pointed out the Inner Circles and Brain Trusts are separate from
the Clann.  However, the Clann's protection and assistance shall extend to
the entire faculty and their immediate family of each school in which the
Clann has members in an Inner Circle, plus the entire Inner Circle and
families at each school.  For now, that's McCambridge.  We expect soon to
have an Inner Circle in NHH, the corresponding middle schools and possibly
even the elementary schools.
   "The protection and assistance will also be rendered to those we find
along the way.  If they are one of us or have the Potential, we will
protect and assist them as we can.  Mary Shinto's a good example of that --
besides being one of us now, she offered her total loyalty to one of our
later Clann members.  As David said, hat loyalty and courage deserve to be
rewarded.
   "By the way, there's nothing to say we can't voluntarily make some
exceptions for those not ones of us.  There are plenty of Sensitives and
mundanes who are very good people we can assist.  All you have to do is
ask.
   "The Clann's protection and assistance covers spiritual or physical
attacks by Richard Wretched-Rectums such as Frank Long at Vail and to some
extent, legal attacks.  In the event of a legal attack, at least we'll
recommend a good, honest legal reference.  Evin, isn't that a contradiction
in terms?  Can a lawyer be both good *and* honest?"
   Great laugh from everyone.  Evin replied, "A good lawyer knows his stuff
and you get the best he can be.  An honest lawyer stays bought just like an
honest politician.  By these terms, I'm both good -- in my areas of
expertise -- and honest."
   Lots of applause.
   I went on, "There will probably be other clanns.  This particular clann
is mainly bound geographically at the moment, namely Burbank and North
Hollywood.  Right now, Susan Way and Raymond Steele at Vail are actually
part of this Clann, at least by association.  They will probably decide to
form their own Clann with their own leader.  The Clann Reynolds in Burbank
and North Hollywood can meet physically without much effort.  For Susan and
Raymond to meet with us is a lot more work on their part.  However, until
and if they form their own Clann, they are at least our allies and deserve
our protection and assistance.
   "We may find other clanns; perhaps if the NHH Inner Circle gets really
active, there might be a North Hollywood Clann or a Clann Donovan.  In
those cases, so long as they are ones of us and their goals and activities
align with ours, we will at least offer them moral, spiritual and
technological assistance as allies.
   "I don't doubt that only a few years down the line, there *will* be
several clanns with mutual-assistance pacts.  We may have a hierarchy of
'authority,' much as our Ceann has 'authority' over us.  I'd bet Clann
Reynolds will end up on top of the heap because of its demonstrated ability
in 'technical' matters, our better organization *and* the fact that we have
Righteous Bob Reynolds as our Ceann!"
   Long, loud applause and cheers!
   "Great.  Now, let's address the Clann Ceann duties.  First, the Ceann
acts as a coordinating entity.  They *manage* activities, not dictate them.
The Clann Ceann is a *leader* by example and acclaim, not by position. 
While we've sometimes jokingly refer to Bob as 'He Who Must Be Obeyed' and
Kathleen as 'She Who Must Be Obeyed,' they are not.
   "Only in emergencies does that hold.  The characteristics of the Clann
Ceann are such that we respect their judgment at these times.  For example,
during the earthquake, Bob said, 'jump' and everyone jumped because you
trusted his judgment completely.  Afterwards, he may have explained *why*
he made those judgments; as Clann members, we will all have the right to
ask for an explanation.
   "However, during emergencies, if the Ceann says, "Shit!" we squat and
dump *then* we ask how much and what quality.  There will be more
emergencies, that's a fact of life anywhere.
   "We cannot expect the Ceann to be infallible.  They *will* make
mistakes. However, so long as the correct important decisions outweigh the
incorrect ones, we've got a good one.  So far, I haven't seen prescience or
precognition appear as ability anywhere.  Anyone else see any hint of
these?"
   Bellana pointed out every one of Bob's predictions she'd heard about had
become substantially correct.
   I replied, "Probably because he is competent, ethical, honest and so
God-dammed smart!  I'll betcha he never said, 'I had a dream that Bellana
would become a mate with Henry and Janet.' He may have thought so after
five minutes of observation, but never to my knowledge has he claimed
'divine inspiration', 'Visions from God' or any other precognitive ability.
Has *anyone* in the Clann you know of *ever* claimed such abilities?  Mind
you, I've gotta leave out Kathleen's and Ana's visions of shopping trips in
the near future!"
   Good laugh.  No one put forth any such claim.
   "Okay.  Any questions so far?  We'll probably tweak this stuff as we
gain experience.  These are *policies*, guidelines from experience to
*think* with, not arbitrary rules we follow blindly.  Again, the Clann
Ceann is a manager, not a dictator."
   No questions so far.
   "Great!  You can always address questions to the Customs Committee and
expect an answer within a week.  Now, we've talked a little about what
comprises the Clann; let's talk about the specific members.
   "The next point says membership in the Clann is totally voluntary and
consensual.  If Sherry's family decides to move to North Dakota for
whatever reason, she may move with them and remain a member of Clann
Reynolds, move with them and start her own Clann while withdrawing her
membership here, or remain here on her own and stay as a member of the
Clann.
   "She has that choice mainly because she's eighteen and it wouldn't take
much to make her legally independent of her family.
   "*Any* Clann member may withdraw their membership at any time.  Sherry
and Mario, for example, can say, 'Fuck you all, we're gonna screw all day
and night and don't *give* a good God-damn what you guys do!' That's their
individual prerogative.  That in and of itself would not change their
current relationship to JRD because we're separate entities.
   "On the other hand, we don't have to accept anyone and everyone as part
of the Clann.  Unless we grant a *specific* case-by-case exception ratified
by 90% of the current membership, no one *not* 'one of us' may be part of
the Clann and a voting member.
   "We are welded together through and through by our spiritual abilities
and by that very nature are colleagues and companions.  Many of our
communications and agreements are spiritual, and a person not one of us
would have a *very* hard time following what we do.
   "Consider explaining the Probe Patrol to Sherry's family and getting a
complete understanding.  Not necessarily impossible, just extremely
difficult.
   "Now, we ran poor Mario through our female acceptance mill.  That was a
total put-on generated in conspiracy with Sherry.  I don't doubt we'll do
something similar with others; however that is not a prerequisite for Clann
membership.  Simply being one of us or being a mate to one of the Clann and
being one of us and having no one else's overt objection to membership
qualifies someone.
   "Membership is by *invitation only*.  Being 'one of us' alone doesn't
make them a member; they've got to be ethical, broad-minded and worthy of
membership.  Everyone here has lots of spirit-power, so to speak.  We may
run into someone who's one of us but can't get more than ten feet from
their body or might be able to spirit-touch only a pin.  They may have
general ethics issues.
   "Just like a bank accepting a customer, you'll need to qualify, qualify,
qualify.  At any point in the process, you can drop them.
   "As a custom, we'll usually pre-qualify someone before they even know of
the Clann's inner workings.  If they're okay, we'll get their
non-disclosure agreement, go over the Clann workings and customs and extend
an invitation to us to join.  No objections from the rest of the Clann and
they're interested, they're in.
   "Since our membership is so strict, we trust one another's choices. 
Sherry chose Mario for her own good reasons.  We knew he was one of us and
agreed with those reasons and probably would have accepted him on his own
merits even without him becoming her mate; that may or may not happen in
the future and has no real bearing on Mario's membership.
   "Note what happened with our Sunshine, George Tanner and Kathleen
Donovan.  Age of the physical body has *no* bearing on membership in the
Clann.  Even *having* a current body has no bearing.  Sunshine could have
remained a full Clann member with full voting rights *without* a body.
   "If George Tanner as a spirit pops up again, he becomes a grandfathered
full member of the Clann if he wishes.  Body age has no real meaning within
the Clann except for legal requirements for being an officer.  George's
body died on January 5 this year.  So fuckin' what?
   "Based on the data they had then, he decided to pick up a new-born body.
Suppose tomorrow he shows up as the spirit he is; he's automatically a
Clann member with *full* voting rights.  From this point on, this won't be
an issue; to repeat, age of the physical body or presence/absence of a
physical body has no bearing on the membership.
   "Actually, I expect in the not-too-distant future, we may find spirits
fully outside and fully remembering who have newborn bodies.  If we wish to
invite them and they're interested, so be it!  Their families automatically
fall under our protection and support policy.
   "At JRD, we've got four others who are remembering.  They live in our
geographic region of North Hollywood.  They may eventually become aware of
the Clann -- either by direct knowledge or by invitation -- and may wish to
join.  Anyone who's one of us may apply for Clann membership.  As a custom,
they may be invited to become part of the Clann unless anyone has an
objection.  In that case, the Clann Ceann *may* request a Board of Review
to check the candidate's qualifications or reject the request out-of-hand.
   "At some point, the Clann will have so many immediate members it may
become extremely difficult to administer.  We might split and make two
clanns.  No big deal; we'd just take a vote.
   "If the Clann Ceann makes a non-emergency decision, it requires an 80%
vote of the immediate Clann to overturn it.  You've elected the Ceann based
on his ability to put the survival and good of the Clann ahead of his own
personal opinions.  Again, while the Ceann isn't infallible, you elected
him or her on their ethics and abilities; we're not going to second-guess
them at every turn.
   "We good so far?  This is a prototype and as we gain experience as a
Clann, we may add or amend these policies."
   So far, so good.
   "Fine.  Now as to the succession of the Clann Ceann.  First, nepotism
has no place whatsoever.  Bob and Kat may have children who *may* be
competent as Ceanns.  The Clann Ceann is *not* an inherited position.
   "Say ten years from now, Bob decides to retire to a little island off
Costa Rica where there are only genetically-recovered dinosaurs to worry
about.  The Clann Ceann may retire on his or her own decision for *any*
reason.
   "At the physical death or retirement of the current Ceann, there shall
be two choices; the spiritual being who *is* the Ceann remains so or the
Clann elects another.  In either case, any nominee to the position may
decline with no explanation.
   "If the spiritual being alone is acceptable as Ceann, we will need to
elect a figurehead President to satisfy the current legal rules Evin
pointed out for an organization.
   "Election to the position of Clann Ceann requires 80% of the Clann
membership.  Note this is the immediate Clann, not including the 'first
generation' or school faculties.
   "If a Ceann keeps screwing up, the Clann may impeach them, just like a
U.S.  President.  If 33% of the membership votes to kick them out, they're
gone as soon as another Ceann gets elected.  The next Ceann requires the
80%.  Your white paper shows other provisions.
   "All righty then!  Questions or comments, address them in writing to the
Committee.  Let's take a break then get down to the goodies you gals have
been waiting for: sexual orientation of the Clann and duties of the Clann
Ceann."
   We took ten minutes to refresh drinks, hit the bathrooms and pet Geeser.
Everyone kept eyeing Bob and Kat, who appeared innocent of any knowledge.
They were; I'd prearranged a demonstration with Bob and that was it.
   Bob called the meeting back to order and handed it over to me.
   "Now we're talking about stuff on the green paper.  So, let's talk about
the Clann family structure.  We're operating in the United States and in
California, so we must give the appearance at least of being in compliance
with as many of the conflicting laws and regulations as possible.
   "We've got five very new people here tonight; two 'adult' couples and
Mario Castillo.  I'm not going to worry about shocking or offending any of
them; I doubt if I could anyway.
   "The Clann to a great degree is clandestine; our existence is not
secret, but what and how we do it must not be disclosed.  There's many a
rabid do-gooder and scandal magazine who'd drool at the chance to 'expose'
the den of iniquity which has 'innocent young children' being sexually
exploited.
   "The Clann keeps the family or group units it has.  Legal relationships
such as marriages and living quarters such as apartments and houses should
be openly encouraged and promulgated.  The outward appearance must be
completely benign and 'normal.' All legal minors must have a parent or
legal guardian.
   "That doesn't mean two or more families cannot share living quarters,
just that to any mundanes, they are actually separate families.
   "The key to all internal Clann relationships either sexual or otherwise
is *consent*.  Every relationship must be consensual.  If a legal minor who
is one of us chafes and strains under the parents' or guardian's authority,
they can seek emancipation.
   "Every relationship must *appear* normal to mundanes.  While we don't
have any male-male relationships yet, even those must appear normal. 
Janet's and Bellana's relationship appears normal since they are
intelligent enough not to draw *hostile* attention to it.
   "Probably several people outside know Bob and Kathleen share a bedroom
both here and at the Reynolds.  They're both eighteen, so it's completely
legal.
   "The Donovan young ladies and O'Banain young men may have two sets of
relationships or all of them are in the same relationship sharing everyone
and everything.  So long as *everything*'s completely consensual and the
mundanes see nothing unusual, for all the Clann cares they may do each
other in any combination they wish.
   "As part of legal families and minors however, they all fall under the
control of their parents.  If there arises any dissent, jealousy, friction
in any relationship, the legal family parents or guardians handle it first.
If it doesn't handle, it goes up to the Clann Ceann who *does* handle it.
   "So far we've seen no issues the families haven't handled easily.  Every
minor in a consensual relationship has the parents' agreement and things
are working out just fine.
   "One thing we *will* require is quarterly blood test for STDs.  Madam
Secretary will keep results simply by name, date, ok/not okay and for
females, birth control method.  If you're contemplating a new relationship
within the Clann or just a quick shagging, check the records.
   "Bob, Kat, David and Elizabeth, Mama and Papa Sonora, for instance,
routinely get blood tests.  While all their relationships have been within
the Clann, they also work around construction sites with a lot of
outsiders. They're being extremely cautious and so should you.
   "Ana will do one simply because she's an R.N.  and we may call on her
from time to time for first aid or advice; she may also be called upon to
help mundanes.
   "Madam Secretary will let us know how to find the results; they will
definitely be Clann-confidential.
   "For those relationships eighteen and over, the same consensual issues
hold.  If there are issues they can't handle, they can go to their or other
parents or to the Clann Ceann.  Bob, would you show them the apples?"
   Bob gave the demonstration.  He had on a short-sleeved shirt.  He picked
up an apple, folded a towel over it once and put it on the table before
him. He held his arm straight out and flexed it and his hand a few times;
everyone could see the muscles stand out and roll (deliberately
emphasized). He cupped his hand slightly with the fingers together, held it
about six inches above the apple in the towel then suddenly slapped it
down.
   *Loud* bang!  He folded open the towel and glared balefully at us.  The
apple was smashed flat into applesauce!
   "Ladies," he said, "imagine that on your bare butt.  Think I wouldn't do
it if I had to?  If necessary to preserve peace in the Clann or to guard
the Clann from outside interference, I will." He glared around again.
   He flexed both his hands and picked up an apple in each one.  He
squeezed slowly without apparent effort and applesauce oozed out between
his fingers.
   "Guys, imagine that on your arm, leg or shoulder.  Don't fuck with the
Clann's security.  If I think I can't handle it alone, I'll ask Father to
come along."
   David stood up; he stood still for a second then rippled every muscle.
Damned impressive.
   I let the silence sit for a few seconds then said, "I don't imagine
anything will escalate that far.  If the Ceann happens to be a 90-pound
physical weakling, he or she will have Masters at Arms for enforcement. 
Don't fuck with the Clann's security.
   "To the mundane world, the Clann must appear simply as a group of
families working with each other; that's one reason for the not-for-profit
organization.
   "Now let's take a look at cross-family or cross-relationship activities.
Let's suppose our lovely thirteen-year-old Valerie gets a yen for a wild
night in the sack with David.  The key word is consensual.  To the mundane
world, that would be immoral and illegal; the Clann could care less.  If
Valerie has Pat's agreement and can handle her parents -- it could be a
'don't ask and don't tell' -- and it's okay with David *and* his mate
Elizabeth, the Clann could care less so long as it's consensual and no
issues arise.
   Valerie gave David a long, smoldering look; he grinned eagerly and
wiggled his eyebrows back at her.  Good laugh from everyone.
   "If the Reynolds and Matthews decide to have an all-night orgy, that's
fine so long as no issues arise and it's consensual to *everyone* involved.
   "Bellana wants some intimate sexual instruction from Mama and/or Papa?
Totally fine by the Clann.  Anything goes so long as it doesn't endanger
the Clann's security or cause disruption within the Clann.
   "Any questions or comments, send them to the Committee.  This should be
fairly straightforward stuff."
   "We've discussed possible scenarios for the Clann Ceann and Honoring. 
That's exactly what it will be, an *Honor*.  Same with the Ceann-Mate, it's
an Honor.
   "We all know Don and Ana Soonered us Saturday morning and ended up
giving us a spectacular show; I'd consider them *highly* Honored."
   We gave them a big round of applause; they stood, laughed and bowed. 
While that went on, I walked around the table and stood behind Bob.
   "This is a one-way street.  The Ceann or the mate asks.  You *do not*
have to accept!  It's consensual.  Not that some of us won't be above
giving some subtle hints..."
   I leaned over and rubbed my hard nipples lightly across his head. 
Everyone clapped!
   "But don't push it.  Don and Ana happened to be first.  Whoever is next
and whenever, if there *is* a next, is completely up to them.  If for
whatever reason you feel neglected or you're somehow being put down lower
in their esteem, don't.  Sequence means nothing.  We're not playing
political power-games.
   "You may end up with one or both on a person or couple or a threesome or
whatever combination; it's up to Bob and Kat.  Any combination, any time so
long as it's consensual.  Knowing them, they probably won't start tonight
with Sherry and Mario whose relationship is very new -- but who knows?  I
trust them both to do what works best.  Remember, they've got a pretty new
relationship, too, so don't expect them to be bed-hopping every night.
   "Don't expect a fantastic display of orgasmic rapture, either.  The mere
fact the Ceann or mate *asks* gives the Honor.  Anything beyond that is
fun-and-games icing on the cake.
   "Okay then.  Last thing: Again, these are guidelines, the rules of the
game we're playing.  They're here to *think* with, not to apply blindly or
feel restricted because something isn't mentioned.  Unless we've explicitly
prohibited something, you're probably free to do it within the guidelines
of the other policies.  The overriding criteria are the internal Clann
trust and honor and the external Clann security.  If you have a doubt about
something, ask the Committee or the Ceann.
   "We're fast-flow.  That means the Clann lets things run full-speed,
policy-wise, until we run into a glitch.  We'll handle the glitch then run
some more.  We're not going to correct things before they happen.
   "I move the Clann accept these ideas as customs."
   There were about ten seconds to her motion and no further discussion. 
They were unanimously approved with Bob and Kathleen abstaining.
   "Make sure you leave the green sheets here and have a great night!"
   ------
   ANA (Tuesday 2/28)
   Don had been right.  Bob and I had made love so wonderfully I was still
shaking.  Even as tired as our bodies had been Saturday afternoon, Don and
I rattled several mirrors.  And Sunday afternoon and night.  And Monday. 
No end in sight; we were so horny we were planning on doing it Tuesday as
soon as he got home from school!
   Mom, Dad, Thelma and Frank came over Tuesday morning.  None of them had
blinked an eye at any of the policies we'd gone over.
   Dad commented, "Makes total sense.  Your mom and I've been finding
memories millions of years old ourselves; a lot is coming back.  If a
spirit is that old, they make their own morality."
   He gave me a great dirty-old-man leer.  He asked, "Ana Maureen, How. 
Tired.  Are.  You?"
   Jaysus and all the saints!  I got hard nipples and a wet pussy in
seconds.  I told him, "Donal Brady, when you least expect it..." Mom had a
lecherous look on her face, too.
   We had several Vail and Unpleasantville probe inquiries, so I put them
to work.
   I took Frank and Thelma into the den for a bit of talk-talk.  "Frank,
let's look at that leg.  I'm an R.N.  and maybe we can do something to ease
up the pain."
   I sat him in a comfortable chair with his legs resting up on an ottoman.
"Come join me, you two and let's take a _look_."
   The bullet he'd taken in the right leg over 30 years ago had broken the
right femur and had taken a fair amount of the muscle tissue.  The docs had
set the bone properly and it had healed straight.  The muscles in his
entire right leg, however, had atrophied in comparison to his left leg. 
Comparing his legs to several other men of his age range and body type,
they were both underdeveloped.
   He and Thelma could _see_ that as well as I.  He said, "The VA docs said
to keep exercising it.  I walk as much as I can, but there's continuous
pain; mostly in the right leg but also some in the left.
   We _looked_ at the energy running through the nerves.  Ho!  There was a
*big* tangled knot around the break and several other knots in other parts
of his body, especially in his left leg.  They _looked_ black.  His arms
both looked gray as did his spine.  I _looked_ at the nerve energy in my
body, Bob's, David's, Thelma's and Kat's.  Interesting.  Kat had dark gray
or black energy knots around every injury she'd had.  They were larger
around the bone breaks; the one in her right ankle was good-sized.
   _Looking_ at Bob's scar from Simms, I _saw_ a bit of grey all along.  I
had grey knots around my sternum, throat, right wrist and other places. 
David had several gray knots, as did Thelma.  Since Thelma was here, I
asked her, "Did you ever injure your right hip?" That's where one dark gray
knot was.
   "I fell off a horse when I was a teenager.  The doctor said it was just
a bruise, but it still bothers me occasionally."
   Okay, all data for the deduction.  _Looking_ at the body or bone tissue
around each energy knot, we saw it was deteriorated to some extent.  On a
hunch, I had us _look_ at it in the infrared (heat) band.  Every knot had a
cooler spot!  We _looked_ very closely at Frank's leg and found the blood
vessels were smaller and there was less blood flow around and below each
knot; no wonder they were cooler!
   "Okay.  Preliminary observation: where there's an injury, there's an
energy knot and less circulation.  The less circulation in itself would
probably cause tissue deterioration.  The question is, how do we handle
that?"
   This was getting interesting.  I probed several surgeons at different
hospitals with no results.  All they did was fix the stuff up and tell the
patient to exercise it and take aspirin for the pain.  Shit!
   Well, P&V had the best recall, let's set them a task!  They were in
school but said to give them a few minutes.
   Five minutes later, Valerie told us, "Yeh, we've got several memories of
people discovering the same thing about energy locking up.  They tried
several electrical methods like magnets, coils, stuff like that to get rid
of it, but nothing really did anything.  Looks like we're on our own."
   All right.  "On our own" sounded familiar.  Maybe they tried to work
directly on the energy rather than the cause; the symptom not the source.
   "Let's take a shot.  If we divide the nervous system links up, there's
the brain down to the spine, two arms and two legs.  Thelma, how about we
do the doctor reflex check on you and watch the nerve energy."
   I had a reflex hammer among my "souvenirs" and dug it out.  A light
smack on her knee gave us exactly the expected results; her leg jerked
right up.
   We saw what the literature said; the energy wave traveled up the nerves
to the spine and reflected back down.  What the literature didn't say was
that the energy traveled down to the toes and back, down and up the other
leg, up and down the spine to the brain and down and back up each arm to
the finger tips.
   Reflected energy waves.  Put in enough energy such as you'd get in an
injury and it might stay locked up in a standing wave.  Locked up energy
implies nerves don't communicate well past or through it, circulation drops
and the injury takes a long time to heal -- if it ever does.
   Frank commented, "Now we know what happens; assuming that bleeding off
that energy will help, how do we do it.  Val said external means don't seem
to do much."
   Thelma said, "Then it has to be internal, right?"
   Okay but what?  Frank wiggled his toes a couple times against his shoes.
_Seeing_ a tiny bit of energy in his legs bleed off, I said, "Maybe we're
on to something."
   Stripping off his shoes and socks, I told him, "Feel this," and firmly
grasped the toes on his right foot.  Holy shit!  We _felt_ and _saw_ energy
bleed out.
   Frank said, "That does smart but feels better every second.  'It hurts
so goood.'"
   We laughed, and I held on until the energy stopped bleeding off.  He'd
dumped about a third of the energy locked up in the knot above his knee.
   We tried the same thing again but only got a few flickers coming off. 
Well, we've got more limbs.  Telling him, "Feel this," I squeezed the toes
on his left foot.  YES!  Energy bled from both sides!
   We worked for another half hour, going back and forth between his toes
and his hands and to the small of his back where nerves from his legs join
the spine.  Every place bled something off until nothing more happened. 
_Looking_ now, there was only a bit of energy left in his back, arms and
spine while his right leg had light gray and the left was even lighter. 
Tremendous!
   I said, "Okay!  Definite progress.  I can tell the circulation's picked
up some and your legs are a bit warmer.  Thelma, tonight you do the same
thing; work it over just like we did here until nothing more comes off.  Do
the same thing tomorrow morning and let's see what happens.  That okay?"
   More than okay.  "Enough slacking off, we've got some work to do!" Back
to Probe Patrol.
   Chapter 23
   KATHLEEN (Tuesday 2/28)
   Sherry was so happy!  Every time we'd seen her the past few days she'd
had the well-fucked look and radiated happiness.  Good on 'er!
   At lunch, the entire gang complemented her on her "new makeup" and how
well she looked -- and _felt_.  We teased her lightly about "happy
injections" and "therapeutic massages." She just teased back and beamed at
us.
   ------
   SHERRY
   Tuesday night Mario and I set up a blind date between Sarah and Mario's
cousin Julio.  While they were a bit reluctant -- everyone always had
horrible stories of blind dates -- I assured Sarah if things went bad, I'd
come get her within fifteen minutes.  Mario assured Julio the same thing,
so they agreed to dinner-and-a-movie at the Media Center Friday night -- on
us.
   The JRD Owners had a quick mental meeting.  Having a sufficient number
of daytime probers who'd soon be well-experienced, we decided to start the
audits on the JRD sub-companies.
   We picked JRD Recording, a sound studio in Hollywood.  It handled medium
to high-end recording for vocal and instrumental and had a few stages to do
small, straightforward music videos.  There was a fully-equipped Foley
Stage with lots of independent Foley artists available along with several
mixing studios.
   Mainly doing independent studio work, it had 25 employees and was
available 24/7.  JRD had $75,350,000 invested (mainly land, equipment and
software) net book value after depreciation; it had been running a net
profit around $3,000,000 annually the last five years.  That's about 4%
return.  Seemed a little low, normally one would hope it to be 10 to 15%.
We hadn't seen anything really out of line during the overall JRD analysis
we'd done at the start of February.
   We chose it because it was close (a half-hour drive), fully-owned and
had lots of room to improve.  We decided to have Mario gather all the extra
accounting and other reports in one spot tomorrow and turn the Sexy Seven
(Fearsome Five plus Patrick and Valerie) loose on it tomorrow evening. 
Throw in Leone and Mark who knew at least something about music and we'd
see what we could find.
   We'd asked P&V about their past business experience.  Between the two of
them, they calculated they had roughly 40,000 years of owning and running
or in the top management of businesses or groups of 100 or more people. 
Might be enough experience to find a few places we might be getting
shafted!
   As a final note in the Owners' meeting, the others voted to invite Mario
to Cabo San Lucas with us at our shared expense.  Damn that's so nice of
them!  I couldn't wait to tell Mario to get his passport in order.  I spent
several interludes plotting how I could work it into casual conversation
and rattle his cage a few times.
   ------
   BOB (Wednesday 3/1)
   We turned the gang loose on the JRD Recording books after school.  The
studio did all their accounting on the JRD server; their checkbook and
payroll were on QuickBooks Pro.  Mario got a copy of their QuickBooks file,
set the gang up so they could get at all the reports and other data he'd
gotten together and turned them loose.
   After picking Aaron's and Barbara's brains about the balance sheets,
trial balances and other financial reports from the accounting software,
they burrowed in like tunneling machines.  If the accounting system didn't
have a report the way they wanted it, Mario would set up a query, download
the results and use an external reporting program to create it; it was five
times faster than using the built-in report generator.
   After several of these, Mario taught them how to do their own queries
and downloads so he wouldn't be the bottleneck.  He volunteered to stay
available as much as necessary even after hours; I told him to keep his
time after hours and we'd pay him the same as the rest of the consultants.
He told me, "No problem; I can put in as many hours as needed, you just
have to make it okay with The Sherry!"
   The gang broke for dinner then gathered for study.  Since spring quarter
exams were coming up, we spent a full hour studying and reviewing.  Just
because three of us have basically unlimited incomes from JRD didn't mean
we could slack off; we had three sets of parents more than willing to come
down on us hard if we did!
   At 8:00 the rest of the Clann arrived for a meeting.  We agreed since
the Clann was just getting going and there were lots of changes happening,
we'd meet at 8:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until things settled
down. I brought up the fact a member didn't have to be physically present,
"Unless there's something very physical, most of the time we're
disseminating information of some sort.  If someone's running late or
there's a huge traffic jam or it's raining, it's entirely acceptable to pop
in without your body.  If *you*'re here, you can vote; it's that simple."
   Mama Sonora talked with us about income for the Clann expenses.  "We've
got a wide range of skills and ages.  Roughly half the Clann members are in
school full-time and most of the adults have full-time work.  We have five
full-timers at JRD and seven full-timers doing Clann and JRD Probe Patrols.
After June when the Seniors graduate, there will be another three
full-timers for JRD.
   "There's one thing *all* of us can do no matter our age or employment
status; that's probing.  From that, we can do all sorts of spin-offs: bail
bond skip tracing, locating runaways, locating kidnapping victims,
background security checks, private investigations such as tails and
possibly even locating by DNA.
   "From talking with Aaron and Barbara, JRD owns a security guard company
in Van Nuys.  As consultants, we could contract with it for several of
these services I just mentioned.  That would expand EverAlert Security for
JRD and give our Clann consultants more diversified income.  As
consultants, having several different clients would also keep the IRS
happier.
   "Subject to Evin's look-over, that's probably our best bet.  EverAlert
contracts Clann Reynolds for service then we set up one or more of us as
consultants to it.  I'd say we split the fee for service: 50% to the
consultant and 50% to the Clann.  The Clann absorbs the overhead for the
referrals and promotion and gives, say, 5 or 10% to the Probe Coordinator.
   "There are lots of companies offering standard background checks via
FBI, federal, state and other public records; those only show if the person
has a police record.  We wouldn't be doing that; we'd be doing deeper
checks directly on a person according to the criteria they want.  The more
details, the more we charge.
   "Say someone wants to hire a nanny for their kids and wants a background
on them.  In five or ten minutes, our consultant could find out if the
person's a sexual predator, illegal immigrant, has a criminal background or
gang associations or is an industrial spy; hell, someone may *want* a
pedophile!  For that type of check, perhaps we'd charge $500.  The
consultant's time would be mostly involved in formatting the final dossier;
total time maybe a half hour.  Not bad income at all.
   "Locating someone by name and relevant information, probably $1,000;
they'd get a location such as an address and current employment, if any,
plus a mini-dossier if requested for another couple hundred.  We're going
to turn a couple of the guys loose on researching DNA traces.  For example,
if we couldn't locate the person by name, we possibly could by DNA; they
could be dead.
   "We don't know yet if cremated remains would have enough intact DNA to
find.  We know the feds traced Unpleasantville packing plant output by lot
number and were able to match DNA.  If someone were killed and buried in
the boondocks, we could probably find the remains.  If they fell in a
river, drowned and the body was swept out to sea and was eaten by the
sharks, we probably wouldn't find them.  Time will tell.
   "A DNA trace would probably be worth five or ten thousand if successful
and maybe three-quarters or half of that if unsuccessful.  We'd get paid
more for a success than a failure, which is right.  The failure might
actually be a lot more work, but we shall see."
   The JRD Owners agreed the next company we'd check out would be
EverAlert; we'd start that in a week and a half, depending on what we found
at JRD Recording.  Since Thelma had a long background in police work, Evin
would check out the State requirements for her to get a Private
Investigator's license.
   Father talked next about body defense while we were outside.  "Several
of us got together and looked over some things.  Without going into detail
about the route we took, I'll simply show you a little of the background
and what we ended up with.
   "Everybody take a look at Geeser there on the table doing his
furniture-with-fur imitation." Geeser was in his usual spot in the middle
of all the school papers on the dining room table; he was on his back with
all four legs up in the air purring away as someone petted his tummy or
chest every couple minutes.
   "We've all _inspected_ people.  Very gently, do a light _inspection_ on
him."
   We did.  Interesting.  He was definitely alive but wasn't really aware
of it.  There wasn't really a spirit-in-charge, so to speak.
   "Okay.  Now Valerie will go completely outside like we normally do. 
_Inspect_ her body."
   Valerie said, "That's _inspect_, so watch the hands, guys.  It's no fun
if I'm not around."
   We _inspected_ her body and found much the same thing as Geeser.  It
actually was less "aware" than Geeser!
   Father continued, "We'll probably find similar things with other living
organisms.  There's life but not awareness.  We got down to the organ and
cellular level on inspecting living things, especially animal bodies.  We
found each cell has a tiny bit of what we'd call a spirit, that is, life.
The cells organize together and form organs or structure with specific
purpose then the entire organism or body functions as a whole.  Depending
on the organism, the overall spirituality, so to speak, can be quite high.
   "That gave us something to work with.  Life.  Barbara, would you take
over Val's body very slowly while the rest of us _watch_."
   She did, taking about a minute to do it then waved Valerie's hand at us.
Father said, "Okay.  Valerie, were you aware of that happening?"
   _"Not at all,"_ she told us.
   Father continued, "That's the problem Bob pointed out last week. 
Barbara sorta snuck in and took over.  We found it didn't matter how fast
or slow the takeover was, the way we currently operate there's no awareness
by the owner.  Thank you, Barbara, let it go now.
   "We looked at our spiritual bag of tricks and came up with a slight
modification of the power-sharing VPN Pat showed us last week.  Val, put
one of those into the life energy of the body."
   She did and told us, _"I'm connected so there's a small signal path now,
just as in a spirit-to-spirit VPN.  It's just slightly different."_
   Father said, "Great!  Since her body now has access to virtually
unlimited power, set up a firewall around it."
   Valerie did and reported, _"Done.  I'm aware there's a connection, but
I'm not routinely getting any sensations etc.  If I ping or check the
connection, I can get a status -- horny." Grin._
   Pat volunteered, "That's her normal condition anyway."
   Good laugh.  Father said, "Blake, give her body a light _inspection_
now."
   He did.  Valerie told us, _"Alarms went off and I knew it immediately."_
   Father continued, "Good.  So that gives us a routine method of warning
and at least some protection.  Val, give us the persona we talked about. 
Aileen, give her a light _inspection_ and tell us what you find."
   Aileen laughed, "To look at her body, she's all so innocent.  Turns out
she's a pregnant prostitute with HIV and AIDS, herpes, several other STDs,
terminal breast and cervical cancer, a major yeast infection, chronic
diarrhea and a $1,000 a day cocaine habit.  I'd say not a good candidate
for a takeover."
   Most of us mimed puking our guts out while laughing.
   Father laughed too.  "We figure the persona we put up should make it
unpleasant enough that a roving spirit wouldn't likely bother to try a
takeover.  Now let's see what happens if one tries a takeover despite that.
Barbara?"
   Barbara tried another take over.  This time, Val's firewall stiffened up
tight enough to prevent it.
   Father said, "Yeh, the cat's out of the bag to some extent.  Notice,
however, this firewall has several slight modifications.  It acts more as a
repellent rather than a barrier and its strength varies directly with the
power applied to it.  Barbara, really try to get in there and take over."
   Barbara pounced hard and bounced away.  No penetration.  She tried a
probe with the same results.  Pat tried his best around-the-firewall probe
with the same results.
   "Okay, thanks guys.  So what we've got is a defense that takes very
little power and attention to set up and maintain, yet reacts immediately.
As best as we can measure, it takes about 5 nano-shakes to react.  Since a
shake is about 10 nanoseconds, that is, 10 to the minus 8 seconds, the
reaction time is about 5 to the minus 13 seconds.  In other words, bleedin'
fast.
   "We figure it might not stop a thief but would tend to keep an honest
spirit honest.  Pat, you snuggle up with Val and do the same thing."
   Pat sat beside her; they snuggled up, set up their firewalls and popped
outside.
   Father said, "Note they're sharing their firewall just like we share
when we're outside and in actual contact.  They've got separate personae,
and both their full power is available.  With either or both of them
power-shared to other spirits, there's a *lot* of resistance available.
   "Since each person sets up their own firewall, they can get back in
because they have the control conduit.  Suppose Pat and Val were off in
North Carolina on a live-action probe patrol requiring most of their
attention and there was a fire in the complex.  They'd want their bodies
moved but not necessarily want to *have* to come back to do it.
   "So we'll have a daily/hourly code for the rest of us to be able to take
them over in a situation like that.  Louise, Frank, you do the honors this
time."
   Louise and Frank took over Pat and Val's bodies, stood them up and
walked them around.  Valerie _told_ us, _"Since they used the code, there
wasn't an actual alarm, just a data pulse telling me Frank took over my
body.  He sent me a communication along the VPN telling me why and my
body's status.  No worry, no hurry, he's a friend."_
   Lots of applause.
   Father said, "One last thing.  Suppose Valerie forgets to set up her
firewall or loses the VPN connection or whatever.  Her body's now open to
takeover just as before, right?  Not quite; we've got yet another trick.
   "Since our second-level firewalls have booby-trapped information, the
body firewall data will have the same booby trap with a back door for us.
Valerie's set up a permanent, very low-power back-doored firewall at the
cellular level.  Let us demonstrate."
   Pat moved away from Val who dropped her body firewall entirely and
ensured she was completely outside.  Barbara moved in and took over her
body.  She _told_ us, _"Feels completely natural, no hint of anything. 
*Nice* body!"_
   She suddenly *squirted* outside.  She said, _"Jaysus!  Felt like I just
slid out!"_
   Valerie told us, "With the cellular firewall, I went in through the back
door and expanded it from *inside*.  Since Barbara was using the body's
controls via the mind, the firewall just pushed her out.  It has the same
power expanding from the inside as it does the other firewall in repelling
an attack.  Actually, it's the same firewall without even trying to set up
a persona or VPNs.  Going in with a power-sharing VPN to several others
gives a *hell* of a lot of power.  Neat, huh?"
   *Very* neat.  They got lots of applause and spirit-hugs!
   Father said, "All right!  So we have defense against hostile takeovers
and an offense to eject an unwanted visitor.  That leaves physical
security. Val, you set up your normal body firewall and persona; Janet, you
physically poke and prod her a bit."
   Valerie popped outside.  Janet came over to her and pushed a finger
against her shoulder.  Val's body moved a little but didn't really react.
Janet grabbed her shoulder, shook her, moved her arm around and tugged on
her hair.  Val's body offered no resistance.  Janet reached down and
tweaked Val's nipples.
   Valerie _told_ her, _"No fair!  But remember, turn-about is foreplay, so
I owe you two!" Big grin._
   Father told us, "So, the spiritual firewall in itself does nothing about
the physical security.  Val was aware through the VPN data link of what was
going on; to do something physically would require her to take back body
control.
   "Now, what would happen if an airplane fell out of the sky onto the
house while she was outside?  Unless we had a constant patrol for something
like that, she'd be shit out of luck.  Maybe she'd be able to pull a
Kathleen Donovan, but it's still a pain in the butt, agreed?"
   All agreed.  Father said, "Janet, try poking her again."
   Janet poked at her shoulder but her finger stopped an inch away.  "It's
a soft barrier.  Not solid, but it resists with the same force as I'm
applying."
   Pat told us, "So we came up with a cellular-level physical firewall,
too. We're all able to directly apply tons of force with a spirit touch. 
As another firewall type, this has physical sensors and will react with
enough resistance to repel the intrusion."
   He stood behind Val and swung a ball bat *hard* at her head.  We heard a
sharp crack as the bat splintered six inches away.  Pat said, "It's got the
same reaction time as the spirit firewall.  *Fast!* Again, a friend with
the correct entry code won't cause a reaction."
   He walked around front, scooped up Val and gave her a big hug and kiss.
She popped back inside and tried to wrap her tongue around his tonsils.
   She told us, "Since this is a separate firewall, we can *always* have it
on trip.  Among us chickens, it won't activate unless *really* needed. 
That means we can be pretty safe against assassination or other physical
attacks while still being able to play butterfly games or make heavy-duty
love while sharing the defense.  What happened to Natalie and George can't
happen again.
   "If you get hit with a truck going sixty, you've got a couple choices.
You can bounce like a ball or stand your ground and let the truck wrap
around you; you can create all the power you need.
   "Since the body defense is set up from the cellular level, it also acts
on the cellular level.  In the case of the truck hitting you, if you decide
to bounce, the outside energy or acceleration is transmitted to all the
cells and molecules evenly.  No pain, no bruises.
   "It's proof against the visible and infrared spectrum if you wish.  We
still have to check out the radio and lower frequencies but it'll probably
be able to repel the full electromagnetic spectrum as we know it including
gamma and x-ray radiation.
   "If you play around a bit, you'll be able to have permanently-available
sunglasses and a perfect sunblock so you Irish folk can bask in the sun all
day with no sunburn.  By bleeding the energy from the UV and IR away
slowly, it doesn't actually reflect it; it absorbs it and redirects it. 
That way your body doesn't look like a mirror.
   "We haven't tried it as proof against neutrons, neutrinos or some other
esoteric byproducts of a nuclear explosion, but we'll have Mr.  Physics
over there try to devise some tests for that.  Don, that okay with you?"
   Don said, "Yeh.  I've got several ways to check it out.  How about
things like gases and biological attacks?"
   Valerie replied, "If you are aware of it and can detect it, you can
defend against it.  In cases like that, the issue becomes how do you get
the body out of there rather than just defend against it?  If you're not
aware of it, such as a biological poison you ingest, we'll have to get Ana
to figure out a way to handle toxins and the like from the inside; it might
be possible.
   "Now suppose the proverbial airplane fell here.  The bodies could repel
the physical danger including the heat for a while, but there's no oxygen
because of the jet fuel burning.  Question here: Sunshine, how did you get
your sunshine necklace to Bob?  Did you clear a path through the trash and
fish it out?"
   Sunshine told us, "No, I know I didn't do that.  I decided I wanted it
out of there on my desk at home then suddenly it was done."
   Pat said, "I'd call that teleportation.  Kathleen, I bet you've just
been elected to check that area out.  You've probably done it once
unknowingly, now let's see if it's a unique ability and how it works.  It's
possible you're the only one who can do it; I recommend we find out.
   "If we find we can reliably teleport a body, we're in fabulous luck on
self-protection.  I could set up, say, five safe locations around the
entire world -- depending on the teleportation distances -- and if the
airplane fell here, the body firewall would react to protect it then I
could teleport my body to a safe location; perhaps even set up reflexes to
do it.  Do I hear a consensus that Kathleen volunteer to investigate?"
   Everyone clapped and cheered.  She was volunteered.
   ------
   VALERIE (Thursday 3/2)
   Thursday morning, we met with the Student Counselor, Mrs.  Stroh.  Mrs.
Baer from McCambridge had talked with her about setting up a student
tutoring service at Harvard MS and she was very interested.
   We _inspected_ her; very nice Potential.  She and her husband were
_talking_ a bit and she'd unknowingly been using her developing telempathic
abilities with a lot of the students.
   "I understand you know Bob Reynolds, right?" she asked.
   Pat told her, "Yes.  We've met him and his 'gang' several times already.
Three of his Inner Circle live on either side of us, so we've been hangin'
some with them."
   "Great!  I've been here for eight years now.  I saw him, George Tanner
and Sherry Stapley come through here.  I know George is no longer with us,
but Sherry's still around?"
   I told her, "Oh, yes.  She's an integral part of the whole operation. 
She's *extremely* talented and competent."
   "Yeh, I noticed that when she was here; glad she's still doing well. 
Anyway, Mrs.  Baer and I talked about setting up a student tutoring service
here and recommended you two.  Interested?"
   We were.  We talked for about half an hour about the services we'd offer
including a little matchmaking and situation-handling.  Mrs.  Stroh was
more than happy to agree.
   We tossed around several student names for prospective tutors; Pat and I
recognized them all.  Just because we'd been somewhat loners didn't mean we
weren't friendly or standoffish.
   We told her we'd make a special point of picking Bob's brain on actually
running the whole thing; by now he probably had it down to a science.
   Off to lunch.  On the way from Mrs.  Stroh's office towards the
cafeteria, we spotted one of our Inner Circle potentials.  We'd _inspected_
her several times before and she had *plenty* of what it took.
   She was just over four feet tall, so we topped her by a good foot and a
half.  We walked quietly up behind her, one on each side, grabbed her arms
and picked her off the floor.
   I growled at her, "You're *ours*!"
   She didn't twitch.  She glanced back and forth at us, giggled and asked,
"Is this threesome before or after lunch?  I'm hungry."
   Cynthia Gold had turned thirteen several months ago and was smart as a
whip; she'd been in several classes with us over the years.  Blonde and
terminally cute, she had the reputation of not backing down from *anyone*
while at the same time being friendly and outgoing.  We _inspected_ her
again and decided to do our pitch.
   Pat laughed, "Maybe both." We let her down and I asked, "Okay if we talk
with you at lunch?  There's some semi-serious stuff we'd like to go over
with you."
   I _felt_ her _inspect_ us lightly.  She didn't really know what she was
doing, but it was a great beginning.  We _fed_ her the idea we weren't
screwing around with her and did want to talk with her.
   She said, "Conan and the Valkyrie?  Sure, why not."
   Conan?  Valkyrie?  Anyway, we found a table where we could talk.  Pat
asked her, "What's the Conan and Valkyrie stuff?"
   She said, "Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger?  *Big* guy.
You know what a Valkyrie is.  That's what a lot of us call you guys.  No
one even *thinks* of fuckin' around with either of you."
   We allowed as how that was okay.  Cynthia glanced at Val's breasts and
thought, _"Damn.  They're lovely but I sure hope I don't get that big very
soon; I'd keep falling over."_
   She had a nicely-developing bosom herself, just right for her age and
frame.  We couldn't pass up a straight line like that and it was perfect
timing.  Pat said, _"If you did fall over, they'd bounce you right back
up."_
   Her eyes got big in a hurry.  "Shit.  This really happens?" _"I've been
hearing people in my head a lot lately -- thought it was the hormones
running around.  Either that or I was going off the deep end."_
   We grinned at her.  I said, _"Yep.  It's real all right.  You're
remembering abilities we had a long time ago and had forgotten about. 
Welcome to the world of the spirits."_
   "Anyway," Pat told her, "we'll go over that later; I think you'll have a
lot of fun with it all.  Right now, let's talk about tutors."
   We discussed setting up the tutoring service here and some of the other
services it would offer.  She knew of Bob, Sherry and George from the
legends.  She was interested.
   I make a quick _talk_ with Bob and Kat.  I told Cynthia, "How about we
meet after school.  Bob Reynolds and his Sunshine Lady live near here and
we'd like to introduce you."
   It was okay with her so we decided to meet right outside the main door
after last class.
   ------
   CYNTHIA GOLD (Thursday 3/2)
   All that stuff that'd been floating around in my head the last couple
months was real!  Damn, it was weird but a hell of a lot better than
thinking I was going nuts or something.
   Conan and the Valkyrie were really nice.  We'd had a lot of classes
together over the years and we'd chatted a bit now and then; even in middle
school, they tend to put some of the more advanced students together.
   I'd been barely joking when I'd asked about a threesome.  Hell, I'd get
together with *either* of them in a heartbeat.  Not that they were so
beautiful -- adolescents tend to be gawky and awkward, including me -- but
they just gleamed with enthusiasm and joy.
   It was obvious to the entire school they were together.  They didn't
lovey-dovey around or hold hands or other mushy stuff, but they just looked
and acted so comfortable and friendly towards each other.
   So they want to set up a tutoring service?  Fine by me.  I'd helped out
quite a few other students already.  I really enjoyed helping someone
straighten something out and seeing the sudden look of comprehension when
they finally got it.
   We arranged to meet right after school and have me meet Bob Reynolds and
his lady for a quick introduction.  Neat!  I'd never met a legend before
even though Burbank has a lot of movie studios.
   After school, we met and walked towards the Media Center.  I saw a
high-school couple come around a corner from behind a wall; Pat called out,
"Hey, Bob!"
   I recognized him immediately and gasped, "Ah *shit!*" It had to be Bob
Reynolds.
   The couple looked at us and stared at me for a second.  The redheaded
girl with Bob turned her head to him and squeaked something then they broke
up laughing.  I felt the blush all over my body and thought of hiding
behind Pat and Val.  Too late!
   Bob finally controlled his laughter.  Looking right at me, he said, "So
this is the famous Cynthia Gold; wrecker of the grade curves in the eighth
grade, the feisty young lady who doesn't take crap from nobody and
displayer of assets to strangers."
   Pat and Val turned and stared at me.  I rolled my eyes, sighed, groaned
and finally said, "I flashed him last year.  He was with a different girl
then."
   Bob gave me a big warm smile and *admired* my body.  He gazed right at
my breasts and said, "Delightful they were then and now they're even more
wondrous to the aesthetic eye.  You're lookin' *good*, Cynthia!"
   All right!  I pushed my chest out and smiled back at him.  My nipples
popped up and threatened to poke through my bra and shirt.
   Might as well give him back as well as he gave!  I told him, "So this is
the famous Bob Reynolds; the Sorcerer who makes magic, the boss of the
Mickey C Inner Circle and the focus of adolescent girls'
hormone-enhancement sessions." I leered at him and waggled my fingers in
front of my crotch; he was for me at least.
   This time Bob blushed and the rest of them howled.  The redhead
squeaked, "Unka Robert!  Unka Robert!"
   We finally settled down.  Bob asked me, "Rita Gold's your sister, right?
You folks live over on Harvard."
   "Yep," I told him, "that's us.  Rita's a Sophomore at Mickey C."
   Bob said, "We know her.  Very nice young lady, but I think you're *way*
ahead of her in the smarts, personality and looks departments."
   My nipples popped out more.  Damn, they were at full attention; I knew
they were an inch long by now, even trapped inside my bra.  My pussy
slicked up good, and I wanted to jump him right there.
   Bob's girl told me, "By the way, I'm Kathleen Donovan and I *am* the
same girl.  Pat and Val now have an assignment this weekend to bring you
fully up to speed on things.  Perhaps you could drop by our study group
Monday evening and meet the rest of the guys to see what you'd be getting
into."
   Chapter 24
   ANA (Friday 3/3)
   Friday morning, Thelma told me, "We did the touching at night and in the
morning until nothing more bled off.  He did me, too and my hip feels
more...  I guess I'd say *there*.  I can feel it being part of my body now;
before it seemed distant, not integrated."
   When we _looked_ at Thelma's hip, there was only a light gray knot left.
Great!
   I told them, "Great!  Let's take a look at your leg, Frank." Be Jaysus!
That black energy knot in his right leg was now a light gray!  We could
_see_ the circulation was a lot better and a _look_ in the infrared showed
both legs only a little cooler than the rest of his body.
   Frank told us, "Yow!  That's simply amazing!  Other than some pain
coming off with the energy releases, I haven't had an ache there since
Tuesday.  I keep walking on it and it feels stronger every day."
   Thelma laughed, "He chases me, the old letch!"
   Frank grinned and kissed her.  "Who *wouldn't* want to chase you,
Thelma? You're the wonderfulest cop-lady in the world."
   Aaah.  So sweet!  I told them, "All right you two.  Save it 'till
lunchtime!"
   Thelma laughed, "That's just enough time; I'll _ask_ Bob and Kat to
borrow their room!"
   After we laughed a while, I told them, "Okay.  Tonight at the Clann
meeting, you two do a show-and-tell; I'll bet all of us have a few old
injuries hanging around this could help.  You two keep trading off doing
them until you're consistently not getting any changes.  If there's still
energy hanging in there after a few days, try some more.  Let's see if we
can get it all the way out."
   ------
   KATHLEEN (Friday evening 3/3)
   At the Clann meeting, Frank and Thelma showed us how to find and bleed
off locked-up energy from previous injuries.  My body had plenty from the
Kathleen-klutz years, so I paid real close attention.  Bob had several too,
though none major.  We planned on doing it that night.
   Mark gave us the report on JRD Recording's books.  "No real issues right
now.  The income's been stable but pretty low at 3 to 5% the last five
years.  Let's do the probes this weekend and do the entire staff.  Not that
we suspect them of anything particular, but Ana says she can schedule
everyone to do at least one probe.  That'll get us all experience at
probing with the three-layer firewalls, power-sharing VPNs, the body
defenses and the newer transcription techniques.  We have a complete staff
and consultant list; doesn't matter whether or not it's day or night for a
probe to be effective."
   Ana told us, "I'll have the schedule posted by 10:00 tonight.  Remember
it's a two-level cipher.  When you check in, we'll assign you to a probe
target and a local computer; unless we need him, ramontheeye will be on
standby for the other probes."
   Patrick got the floor for a bit.  "Valerie and I have been out exploring
like you have.  We got curious about the effects of last year's sex-bomb
and the recent joy-blast so we looked for people remembering at whatever
level.
   "Someone remembering has a different vibration, wavelength and feel from
the mundane person, so they're actually pretty easy to spot -- at least for
Val and me.  We looked over the Los Angeles County area and found this as
of last night: about 10,000 who have an increased sensitivity to thoughts
and emotions of others with some projection ability, 500 who can at least
_talk_ some with another sensitive person on the same level, about 100 who
can be outside to some degree and an additional 40 or so who are
operationally outside as we are.
   "The 40 includes all the Clann here, so there's at least 10 others. 
From talking with Bob and Riona, there's several faculty members at
McCambridge and NHH who are at that level.  There's one other who's
outside; it comes and goes as if it's keeping a real low profile.  None of
the rest have the full firewalls, probes and other tools we have; we may
want to approach them and offer our help.
   "We took a look around Redmond.  There's about 50 Sensitives, 8
partially-outside and 10 pretty much operational.  We did some quick probes
and those 10 are Susan Way, her three children, Raymond Steele and several
Vail employees.  They're starting something up there, so let's keep them
up-to-date.
   "For grins, we tried the entire United States.  Not including the ones
I've already mentioned here in California and Washington, there's 100
Sensitives and 5 partially outside.  We spotted Mary Shinto, who's fully
one of us; she stood out like a spotlight.  We didn't see George Tanner
specifically, he could well be in deep cover and be the one we see coming
and going around here.
   "We didn't find any other operational ones.  Even without further
probing of those Sensitives we did find, I'd bet they were passing through
Burbank during the sex bomb or were in L.A.  County for the joy-blast. 
There *may* be naturally-occurring sensitives like Bob was for years in
that 100.
   "There's an even spread across all ages and over both sexes; race seems
to have the same ratio as the published ethnic ratios.  So, keep your eyes
out and keep _inspecting_.  The next person you meet on the street might
*be* one of us or could become so.
   "I figure we'll do a scan every couple weeks to see what's changing.  It
only takes a half-hour or so."
   We had a few other quick reports.  Evin told us Thelma just had to take
one firearms exam and a written State-law test and she could get her
California P.I.  License.  She said she'd set those up Monday morning.
   EverAlert was quite interested in getting access to our background
checking, lost-person and skip-tracing, so Elizabeth volunteered to be the
contact person for the Clann; she'd coordinate with Ana to do the actual
scheduling.  We decided Elizabeth would get 5% for the initial contracting,
Ana would get 8% for the coordination and the Clann would get the other 37%
coming to it; the consultant would get 50%.  If it required multiple
consultants, they'd split the fee proportionally to the time on the clock.
   All Real Good Things.  We broke up for the night; Bob and I helped Don
and Ana clean and straighten up then we headed off to bed early.
   We washed quickly and brushed our teeth.  I sent Bob off to the bed
while I did a few other special things.
   Fifteen minutes later, I set the styrofoam cooler with the hot
washcloths on the night table and bounced on the bed.  I announced,
"Sorcerer, we've got some spelunking to do tonight!  Prop up the pillows
and sit against the wall.  All this talk about back doors to firewalls and
such reminded me *we* have an untested back door."
   He gave me a big Bob-smile.  "Sunshine, you come up with some of the
most *interesting* ideas I've ever run into.  How do ya wanna do this?"
   "Same as my first times with you.  Even if you did have four kings,
*I'm* on top for this."
   He mock-groaned, "Yes, Mistress."
   He got the pillows arranged and leaned back on them while Little Bob
made preparations for immanent liftoff into orbit.  Pulling the tube of KY
lube from the drawer, I fit the applicator on it and set it very close to
hand.
   Straddling him, I got on my knees, put my hands on the wall and waved my
bush at him.  "Party time!"
   Putting his hands on my ass, he gave a few gentle squeezes and pulled my
pussy to his mouth.
   ------
   BOB
   We _linked_ at 70% and I gave her long slow licks along side her
puffed-out labia and tweaked her clit lightly.  She flooded nectar and it
dripped down my chin.
   I eased her down and she spread her wetness over me.  She grinned at me,
ground her clit over the Wand then we gasped and quivered as a small
release ran through us.
   "This is gonna be *really* good tonight," she told me, "I'm hotter than
a pistol; we'd better set up automatic ear protection 'cause I'm gonna
scream my head off.  I've practiced every day for the last month with a
phantom dildo up my butt; I've gotten up to almost three inches with no
discomfort so there ain't gonna be *any* pain.  I just did a small enema,
so the passage is clean."
   She rose up, fit me to her usual channel and dropped down.  Jaysus, so
good!  She was boiling inside and her channel started its rhythmic light
clenches and flutters.
   After a few strokes, she offered me a hard hot nipple.  I sucked it in,
laved it a moment then sucked hard.  We moaned as a nice release flowed
through us.  We fit ourselves so we _merged_ and completely enclosed both
our bodies; the orgasm boiler was already trying to lift the relief valve!
   We stroked a few times, switched nipples then quivered as more releases
washed us.  They were hot, near to scorching.
   "Grease us up, Sorcerer," she told me.  We squeezed a bit of lube over
the applicator, she pushed her pucker out and I slowly pushed the
applicator through until it was buried inside.  "Put in about half the
tube, honey."
   I complied then slowly pulled out the applicator and put a very generous
glob of lube right on her pucker.  It was quivering and winking in time
with her pussy-clenches.  She put another big glob on my stomach right
above the hair and spread it around.
   We kissed deeply and slowly for several minutes as she rippled her
channel slowly up and down between the clenches.  She wiggled and rubbed
her front against me, spreading the lube between us and leaving trails of
fire across my chest from her nipples.
   _"Sunshine, I love you.  You are my lady, my love and my life,"_ I told
her.
   She replied, _"My Sorcerer, you enchant me.  I love you so much I ache
at times.  Your Wand will be *very* well-used tonight."_
   She pulled off and _pushed_ the head back to her pucker.  We hugged
tightly; with the lube on my stomach between us, her clit was riding on my
slick wet stomach.  We _linked_ to 90%; she pushed out her pucker and slid
down slowly.
   We both shrieked as the head popped through her sphincter and a
scorching climax raced through us.  We quivered and shook; she wiggled her
hips and stomach side to side, sliding her clit on my stomach and sending
streaks of fire through us.  The sensations from her butt were awesomely
intense and unique.
   She wiggled her butt and slid down an inch.  Jaysus!  Another climax! 
Her back door didn't have the same nerve transmitters as her vagina but the
penetration, stretching and filling sensations were similar -- and
delicious!
   With my hands on her butt she slid up and down driving me deeper inside
and sliding Miss Clitty around.  She shrieked with every breath; my ear
protection cut in since her mouth was right beside my ear.  Every stroke
deeper caused another scorching release and drove the boiler pressure up.
   A final two-inch stroke brought her hot quivering butt completely down
onto my lap.  Buried!
   We held still for several minutes while we attempted to merge our
tongues and let the climaxes ease down.  She took a slow stroke up until I
was almost outside then plunged down and buried it to the hilt!  This time
we screamed from the climax!
   More strokes and screaming climaxes then we rested a bit.  She sat up a
little; we grabbed water and drank deeply.  She was flushed to her nipples
and we were soaked in perspiration.
   As our breathing slowed down, I caressed her wonderfully-hot and firm
breasts, tweaked her nipples and flowed my admiration and love to her.
   "Jaysus, Sunshine," I told her, "You are really something.  This is a
*lot* better than sliced bread and canned soda!"
   "Yeh, Bob.  This is definitely going into our repertoire."
   I gave her my best dirty leer.  "And we're not done yet, either."
   We set our waters down then _lifted_ our bodies and rolled her backwards
until she was on her back; we put her legs over my shoulders and I
stretched mine behind.  With a little push, we gained a little more depth.
   With this position, we couldn't kiss but I _held_ my upper body up and
spent ten minutes applying the Sorcerer's Grip to her slick hot breasts. 
By the time we were done with that, we were shrieking from the
almost-continuous climaxes; her anus contracted hard each time and almost
crushed me inside.
   We stroked in and out of her butt, slapping up against each other.  Her
pussy flooded nectar out and down onto our union, making it slicker with
every stroke.
   She pulled her legs higher yet, put her elbows in front of them and
pushed them to the mattress.  _"Stretches really help,"_ she said.  We
gained another half inch of penetration.
   I numbed the head of my dick up a little so I could last longer then
pounded into her hard for several strokes.  Dayum, we're building a
tsunami!
   I grinned at her.  "Since we're not supposed to switch holes from here
due to back-door nasties, we'll have to think of something else." I created
a phantom dick, worked it into her glory hole and put a gentle phantom
mouth and tongue to work on Miss Clitty.
   "You little SHIT!" she screamed, "That's WONDERFUL!"
   With something to clamp against in both openings, the orgasms became
scalding hot.  We stroked again; in at the back while out at the front.  We
_felt_ them slide against each other through the membrane separating the
channels.
   Continuous climaxes now!  Since she had no leverage to do it herself, I
got my hands under her butt and pulled her up with each stroke.  Gradually
increasing the speed and force, we built up the tsunami!
   When we thought we couldn't take any more, we eased back down for a bit
then took it back up even higher.  Five times doing that and it was here!
   I un-numbed my dick and with the next stroke I thickened up (both real
and phantom) inside her, plunged both to their depths and tried to give her
a high colonic with my cum.  She clamped down hard with both channels until
I could barely move inside her.  There was plenty of lubrication, however,
so I pounded both in and out several times before the tsunami took us!
   _"*Surf's up!*"_ It lifted us high; we paused for a long, quivering
moment then slid down the face.
   We screamed and thrashed while my cum continued to flood her bowels and
the hot hot energy swept through us.  We collapsed the energy field into us
and let it flood through us and our bodies.
   It was too much; even lightening the _link_ to about 10%, we had to pop
outside.
   While our bodies screamed, flailed and orgasmed below, we soared
together out to the sunlight above the atmosphere.  _Merging_,
spirit-hugging and _kissing_, we let the bodies collapse on their sides
while we raced around the Moon in close orbit (500 feet; right through any
peaks).  We both won and congratulated the victor with spirit high-fives.
   We slid down rainbows in South America, wrassled a few alligators in the
Congo and played tag in the rain forests of the Amazon.
   ------
   KATHLEEN
   Totally satisfying!  Nicely nasty, very erotic and wonderfully loving at
the same time.  That's my Sorcerer!
   Our bodies were still twitching with orgasmic aftershocks even after
forty-five minutes.  Dayum that was intense!  We nudged them awake; Bob
took a couple wet washcloths and cleaned me up front and back.  He made me
push several times and gathered some of the cum from my ass so I wouldn't
leak so badly.
   With several other washcloths, he wiped my face down then carried me in
to the bathroom and sat me on the toilet.  I peed and even did a little
dump which got the rest of his cum out -- hopefully.  I was only a bit sore
and felt delightfully stretched.
   After a quick shower, we snuggled up in bed.  He gently stroked my
boobies and nipples 'til they tingled and abused Miss Clitty for a few
minutes.  He slid inside me from behind, cuddled a tit with his hand so the
mountain goats in the Himalayas couldn't kick me and we drifted off to
sleep.
   We checked in with Ana (for some reason she insisted we'd leaked a
little!) and found we were on Probe Patrol at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. 
Fine, we could sleep in.
   Exploration!  We went to San Francisco this time and explored the night
life.  Could be fun; does JRD have any companies up there?
   Lots of fun and games going on, both mixed and same-gender.  The usual
background criminal activities; we tipped the police to two robberies in
progress, three burglaries and five rapes.  Five rapists suddenly found
themselves temporarily paralyzed.  Hmm, the rotting balls disease sure gets
around!
   ------
   SHERRY (Friday 3/3)
   Aaron insisted I get a company car, "We've got them sitting here, so we
should use them.  It costs only a little more in maintenance to use them
than it does to let 'em sit." So twist my arm, already!
   I got a nice Audi S8; it was a couple years old, a lovely medium gray
and soo cool.  The driver who brought it over assured me the insurance
covered all the JRD owners and employees.  GPS navigation system, nice
leather, roomy (enough?) back seat, 24/7 roadside service and telephone
assistance, the whole enchilada!  It was a high-school girl's dream and it
was mine!
   After the Clann meeting, Mario and I took off for a late snack-date.  I
made him drive; after all, he's the guy.  He told me, "Not too shabby. 
Cute little toy." Grin.
   We did a quick in and out at a sushi bar.  Okay, I guess; at least we
tried it.
   I told him, "Home, Mario.  Miss Stapley has a big itch that needs a lot
of scratching."
   "Yes, Miss.  Your chauffeur is always ready to drive you...  out of your
mind!"
   On the way to his place, I kept a hand on his shoulder while we chatted.
Bob and Natalie's older trucks with bench seats were a lot more conducive
to snuggling during a date, but we could live with it.
   I told him, "This is your girlfriend talking, not an owner.  What do you
do most of the time at JRD?"
   He explained how he maintained the in-office computer and telephone
systems, did backups, trained people on applications and lately helped the
audit team do special queries and reports.
   "It's no secret," he said, "we're setting up a ten-workstation system
over at Henry's place this weekend so they can do audits and research
together.  That'll almost double the size of our network.  Sure glad I've
got a part-time assistant."
   Perfect opening.  I told him, "That's *very* good.  You're gonna need
one."
   "Why's that?"
   "Because you're gonna be out of town the first week of April, and you'll
need someone else to handle all that."
   Eyebrow up.  "Okay.  Now why am I going to be out of town?"
   "You'll be on a trip to Cabo San Lucas with the owners and O'Banains,
that's why."
   "And why are we going there?"
   "We're gonna *party*, silly!  'Cause we did so well at Vail, we decided
to award ourselves with a little vacation over spring break.  *You*'re
going because you're *my* sweetie.  That's a major benefit of fucking an
owner."
   He reached over and caressed my face.  "We don't fuck, sweet lady; we
make love so wonderfully I often wonder if I'll survive.  You're Mi
Enamorada, the love who holds my heart."
   Glad the seats were treated, because I melted down into a puddle -- and
left a puddle.
   We talked a bit more about logistics and timing for the trip.  He had a
current passport already; JRD had told him to get one soon after they'd
brought him on.
   We didn't fuck that night.  We made tender love for hours, riding the
gentle swells on the orgasm ocean and surfing an occasional mild wave.
   I asked him, "I don't think Sarah and Julio are doing this tonight, do
you?"
   "Highly doubtful.  Julio is too much a gentleman; after all, I coached
him for a whole thirty seconds.  Besides, it takes a while for people to
know each other well enough to do this as wonderfully as you do, even when
they can _link_ and _merge_.  They're two sweet people, but they're nowhere
near ready for this.  Guess we'll find out tomorrow."
   ------
   PATRICK (Friday 3/3)
   We met with Cynthia a couple times between classes Friday then spent
lunch together.
   We talked about getting people for both the Brain Trust and for the core
group or Inner Circle.  Val told her, "Just from what we've seen of you,
Cynthia, I'd say you're gonna be one of the top guns.  We are, kinda by
default, but you're looking so damned good there's no way you could be
otherwise."
   I chipped in, "And we're not just talking about your physical looks,
either.  We'll get together over the weekend and get you trained up a bit.
I bet you'll be great!
   "Let's plan on a few hours Saturday just to yak.  Then on Sunday we'll
get you with some of the other Mickey C gang we hang with and get you some
training.  That okay?"
   Totally fine with her.
   ------
   ANA (Saturday 3/4)
   Probe day!  I was a touch nervous; this was the first JRD probe run I
was responsible for.  No reason, I suppose; the gang has always come
through.
   I had the available computers at our place up and running by 8:00, with
WordPad already launched and waiting for input.  Plenty of disk space,
network was fine, everything okay.  Hell, if anything went wrong, we could
handle it.
   Fortunately, the ramontheeye line was usually pretty slow on weekends by
now; things had settled down quite a bit.  So far, neither Lucia nor
Bellana had been asked to testify even though we expected them to be called
eventually.
   Many of the Unpleasantville defendants had copped a plea by now as the
evidence against them was almost overwhelming.  Not that we cared a whole
lot; we'd already taken the majority of our revenge.  We had further plans
for all of them, even the ones who might get off.  Too bad 95% of the
Unpleasantville crowd were in prison hospitals fighting off toxins and
blood poisoning; dead body pieces rotting inside tend to do that.
   The first Probe Patrol shift logged in at 9:00.  We were running four at
a time on JRD with one on standby for Vail/Unpleasantville.  They checked
out firewalls, power-sharing and cross-VPNs then set up and tested their
body defenses.  Each JRD probe took a computer, got their target and went
to town.
   Nice.  I saw the screens start filling with data as the probers
transcribed what they found.  Dayum that's fast; looks as if they'd been
practicing a lot.
   JRD Recording had 25 staff we were probing.  We figured each would take
only take fifteen or twenty minutes, so when we were done with the staff
person, the prober would pick up a consultant, supplier or customer and run
a quick probe on them.  For the consultants and suppliers, we were
interested whether or not they were messing with us, had unacceptable
quality control or otherwise giving us a problem.
   The customers got a satisfaction survey.  We knew what each customer had
done in terms of service, how much value in dollars it was and how often.
We surveyed on likes and dislikes, bad products delivered, things like that
as well as "asking" what other product or service they might be interested
in and how much it was worth to them.  Lots easier and faster than calling
on the phone!
   Apparently no one came up with much that needed immediate follow up
because "all was quiet on the Western Front." Part of our protocol was
immediately to get another prober on line if something needed additional
investigation on someone else.
   Louise came over around 11:30 to give me lunch break and let me do a
shift from 12:00 to 1:00.  We wanted *everyone* to get experience.
   I found only one oddity.  Two of the engineers had borrowed a mobile
recorder and a couple of mikes and cables to help their kids' band do some
recording.  Not that we minded so much, but the equipment valued out at
around $50K!
   I called in Mark as the second prober; he checked out the kids.  He told
me they were well aware of the equipment's value and were taking special
care with it.  Okay, but it's an item to follow up.
   Let it roll!  By 5:00 we had everything done, all the files collected
and sent over to Frank for review and all the probers thanked.  I wrapped
up the systems by 5:30.
   Don and I had a little party with Mom and Dad.  They'd had absolutely no
problems and were really happy to be doing something productive.
   Hmm.  Mom eyeballed Don pretty good.  Dad watched my nipples and ass,
sniffed the air and leered at me.  Dirty old man!  Maybe sometime soon we'd
have a different sort of party...
   Chapter 25
   SHERRY (Saturday 3/4)
   Sarah and Julio had apparently gotten along well together Friday night;
at least neither of them had given Mario or me a frantic call to come bail
them out of a disaster.
   After his probe shift late Saturday morning, Mario called Julio and got
a guy's-eye view of what they'd done.  Dinner-and-a-movie; Julio said
everything had gone "very well" and Sarah was a "*very* nice girl." Julio
*had* asked her out again and had been accepted, so he'd done something
right.  Julio wouldn't say more even when Mario pressed him for "details."
Nice to have another tight-lipped guy around.
   My probe shift was pretty much routine; fine by me!  I got the employee
dossier (some neat personal kinks but nothing critical), one consultant and
did three customer "surveys."
   The new firewalls, probes and body defenses worked just as expected,
that is, they weren't needed.  For practice, I took everything down and set
it back up again between each probe.  I got used to them and the new
transcription technique in ten minutes on the first probe then it took only
a second on the next ones to get fully set and ready to transcribe.  Good
stuff.
   After I got off, Mario and I got together.  Sarah'd been asleep when I'd
left in the morning, so I hadn't talked with her about the "big date."
Mario and I decided to cut to the chase on the whole deal and put probes
into them.
   Per Sarah, Julio had been a perfect gentleman.  He'd held doors and her
chair, hadn't blabbered away, he'd asked intelligent questions, had
*listened* to her and admired her.  He hadn't bragged, but she got the
information he was in the top 25% of his class at school.
   They could switch back and forth between fluent Spanish and English and
had a lot of the same Spanish slang in common.  They made a game of
switching mid-sentence then back again.
   We did a really hard probe and found both of them had some telempathic
ability working; almost as much as Bob had started with and enough to make
things run smoothly between them.  Definitely Sensitives!
   Now the dirt!  He smelled good!  During the movie, he'd confidently
picked up her hand and held it while they snuggled shoulders.  The movie
was a good choice; not a chick-flick per se but a comedy action with a bit
of romance tossed in.
   She gradually leaned over so her head was on his shoulder, sighed
(hint!) and quivered.  He took the hint, and they gradually turned their
faces towards each other and shared a short sweet first kiss.
   After a few more of those, she was in bliss and wanted even more!  She
pulled away, pulled his arm around her shoulders and snuggled back in.  It
was plenty dark so she guided his hand down to her right breast.
   Julio was good!  No grabbing or mauling, just a gentle finger-tip caress
now and then.  She guided his hand around and ensured he covered as much as
they could get to easily.
   By then her nipples were up tight and her pussy was slick.  She guided
his fingers to her nipple and encouraged him to give it a good going over.
Nicely done.  He stroked for several minutes while she sighed and shivered
then gave it a light gentle tweak.  She felt that all the way down!
   She moaned lightly in his ear and "made" him kiss her again with another
tweak.  So good!  He went back to caressing for a long time then gave her
another gentle tweak at just the right time; pretty close to a Sorcerer's
Grip.  It was so good she almost moaned aloud but buried her mouth on his
shoulder.
   His arm was getting tired (they could _feel_ it a little) so they
quickly switched seats.  She guided his hand immediately to where it would
do the most good on her left breast and encouraged him to work on it.
   They switched seats a couple more times.  For the last forty-five
minutes, Julio was sitting with a leaking aching boner and Sarah was
constantly on the verge of a little orgasm.  It was the first time any
guy'd really had his hands on her and it was wonderful!
   At the very end during the musical climax, he tweaked a little harder,
longer and shook her nipple a bit.  She came *very* nicely; the louder
music covered her loud moan, but she shook and bit his shoulder lightly for
a good minute.  She *loved* it!
   They got in one more sweet kiss before the lights came up; they timed it
perfectly.
   After the movie, they walked and talked for about fifteen minutes before
they called for Mom to pick them up.  They managed to find a few dark
corners, and they snuggled face-to-face and snogged more.  Sarah squirmed
herself up against Julio's obvious arousal, sighed and quivered a lot.
   She pulled his hands down onto her butt, and he caressed it so nicely!
She tried to push her nipples through him, moved them and her clit around a
lot and got herself off again!  She'd already soaked her panties through
and was dripping into her pants.
   They calmed themselves down, called Mom and walked around holding hands.
Julio asked to see her again ("Might I have the honor of your company
another time?"), and they tentatively worked out a walk-around on Tuesday
after school for a couple hours.  They traded all their phone numbers and
email addresses and smooched lightly a few times more before Mom got there.
   We put a probe into Mom.  She saw them exactly when and where they said
they'd be (two points for them), Julio held the door, helped Sarah in (two
more points) and greeted her politely (another point!).
   They'd talked briskly all the way to Julio's (another point).  Julio
gave Sarah a quick gentle kiss (another point) and thanked Mom for picking
them up (two more points!).
   Sarah and Mom talked on the way home.  Sarah "admitted" to kissing some
during and after the movie but kept coming back to how nice, intelligent
and gentlemanly Julio was.  From Mom's point of view, Julio was a winner.
   After Julio got home, he had to relieve himself twice.  Sarah kept
herself up for another hour and came six more times.  Maybe we've got
something going here.
   This was just from the probes.  Mario and I dropped by my place and I
dragged Sarah off for girl-talk.  I knew what they'd done now I wanted to
find out how she felt about it all.
   "He's sooo nice.  We seemed to mesh so well together it was like we were
old friends catching up.  He knows and does all that gentleman stuff like
holding doors and chairs, walking on the outside, all that."
   I asked her, "Does he kiss good?"
   She blushed and said, "Oh, yeh.  He molests boobs even better!  I
'forced' him to touch me during the movie, and he was soo gentle it was
like he was admiring me with his fingertips; I swear I could feel my boobs
with his fingers.  He made me come so nice at the end, it was heaven!  God,
Sher, now I have some idea how it was for you with George and now Mario. 
It's not so much what we did but more who was doing it and the care he took
to give me pleasure."
   "You got it, girl," I told her, "you found a good one.  I won't say
they're rare; all the Inner Circle guys are like that, but they're not
common.  You gonna see him again?"
   "Unless one of our parental sets prohibits it, definitely.  We've got a
quick walk-around tentatively scheduled for Tuesday.  He called me just
before noon today and told me how wonderful I was and how much he enjoyed
being with me.  Is that just guy stuff setting me up or could it be for
real?"
   "Hon, from the vibes you tell me you were getting, it's for real.  He
probably does think you're wonderful.  Even being your sister for sixteen
years, I can see how a gentleman could feel that way about you.  You *are*
a special lady and possibly you've found a special man."
   "I hope so.  It's started soo nicely.  I already want a whole lot more
physically though I'm a bit nervous about it, and I want to have a
wonderful real relationship even more."
   "I know what you're saying, Sarah.  I'm sure you two could find a place
Tuesday and just rip one off, but it's neither advisable nor necessary.  It
seems to me you two have an excellent start on a love with sex
relationship, so let it flow.
   "Now if you wish, you could double-date with Mario and me or if you
think it could get a bit uncomfortable since we're all related, I know Bob
and Kat, Steven and Lucia or the Wild Bunch would be happy to be with you.
   "With some of us, you get limousine service and don't have to worry
about a parent eyeballing you while you're snogging in the back seat.  Want
to give it a try, maybe on Tuesday?"
   "Yeh.  I'm comfortable with you and Mario and I'm sure Julio will be
too. Let's see if we can work it out."
   Mario and I took off.  I _told_ him quickly how Sarah was feeling about
it, so we decided to call up Julio and give him a bit of a hard time.
   We stopped at the park and Mario called Julio on his cell.  We put a
probe into him so we could get feedback while they talked.
   "Julio, Mario.  Sherry just talked with Sarah..."
   _Oh shit!  Are they pissed at me because I fondled her?_
   "Well from what their mom reports and from what Sarah said..."
   _Fuck.  I'm dead._
   "You scored an A++ on being a gentleman and an A+++ on 'can't wait to
see him again.' You did *good*, primo."
   _Yowsah!_
   "Thanks, Mario.  It must have been the thirty seconds you spent coaching
me."
   "Yeh, right.  As if *I* know anything.  Anyway, Sherry and I offered to
double with you two Tuesday if you're interested.  Sarah seems to think it
would work out okay so why don't you two talk it over.  I'm sure you have
her phone number or email."
   "Si.  I've got them both.  I'll call her again tonight."
   "Good man, Julio.  Sherry says to email her light love poems about being
wonderful and beautiful.  Not too heavy on the lovey stuff yet, more the
'She walks in beauty/Like the night' stuff.  You're in luck, primo, you've
got the big sister rooting for both of you."
   "Now *that* I appreciate.  Tell Sherry her trust is not misplaced and
that her beauty is outweighed only by her charm and radiance."
   "Hey!  You sure your mom didn't slip one in and you're not part Irish?
Sounds like what some of the Irish guys in the Inner Circle say."
   "No, Mario, I heard *you* say that about her and I agree."
   Mario, you're gonna get *very* lucky tonight; I guarantee it!
   He did.  We went back to his place, spent a frantic half-hour working
the edges off before dinner (Sarah'd been so sexy!) then two hours in the
evening slow and sweet before we went on Probe Patrol.
   ------
   ELIZABETH (Saturday 3/4)
   Evin had gotten all of Mary's paperwork run through.  He'd been right;
the county had fallen all over itself to get rid of her.
   Several days during the week, we ladies, David and Bob had descended on
Bill's old room and turned it into a girl's room.  Several quick probes
into Mary had showed us what decor she liked.
   Bob, Lucia and I took the first available Probe Patrol shifts then we
drove up.  We picked her up from the hospital.
   Lucia introduced her to Bob, who stood there for a moment appearing
amazed.  He said, "Steven, Lucia and my mother kept telling me how
brilliant, ethical and courageous you are, Mary.  Somehow, they all
neglected to tell me you're also drop-dead *gorgeous*!" He admired her so
hard I'm sure the guys felt it back home.
   Mary's jaw dropped and she blushed all over.  She glanced at Lucia, who
said, "Sorry, Mary.  I screwed up." We laughed and Mary finally was able to
talk.
   "So you're the Sorcerer they've gossiped about.  It's obvious most of
your magic's in your Irish mouth, not in sleight of hand.  I'm *very*
pleased to meet you."
   She was exotically beautiful.  She was slender (but definitely not
skinny) and she was so happy we were here she glowed all over.
   I told Bob, _"Ceann, keep your pecker in your pants at least until we
get home."_
   It was Bob's turn to get pink.  _"Mo-om!  Pretty pretty please!" Grin._
   We'd brought Kathleen's Beemer so we had plenty of room.  Mary had a
tiny bag of stuff and that was it.  When her parents left, they'd dumped
*everything* of hers so all she had was the third-hand hospital donation
clothes she wore and a couple toiletry items.
   Bob started the drive home while the rest of us chatted with Mary. 
After ten minutes he pulled off into the parking lot of a big shopping
center.  I asked him, "Why are we stopping here?"
   He gave me a dumb-question look.  "I may be a guy, but I know when a
girl's in desperate need of a...  *shopping trip*!"
   We girls shrieked in delight!  Exactly what Mary needed!  There was a
Robinsons-May and a Macy's!
   Bob dropped us off at the Macy's entrance.  He would wander around then
meet us when we were ready.
   Charge!  We shopped fast.  This was an emergency run, so we just got
some basics: underclothes, a couple dresses, casual, business-casual,
shoes, socks, hose and some toiletries.  She was a perfect size for some
good off-the-rack.
   She tried to protest at what we were spending.  I told her, "Our
accountant said we weren't spending enough on anything so this is an early
Easter Bunny gift." As if I needed another excuse for shopping.
   We met up with Bob after two hours.  He drove us to a TGI Friday for
early dinner.
   Mary ate a lot.  "I've spent a year on liquids and the last three months
on hospital food.  It's pack it in time!"
   She was still weak and unsteady after a year in a coma.  The therapy had
gotten her to a point where she could move around okay but she wasn't gonna
play soccer tomorrow.
   During the rest of the drive back, we gave her several injury energy
bleeds.  She had black nerve energy locked up *everywhere*.  She told us
her medical history (she'd _looked_) said there hadn't been a square
millimeter of skin that didn't have a laceration, scrape or bruise.  They'd
*really* worked her over.
   Lucia told her what they'd done to the "people" who'd done it and where
they were now.  Mary sobered up for a while.  "I suppose I shouldn't feel
satisfaction but I do.  They'll never do anything like this again."
   By the time we got home, we'd gotten the locked energy down to a medium
gray.  Lot's of progress!
   She'd gone through a terrible sexual ordeal but wasn't worried about it.
"Most of that has healed physically.  I haven't much idea what it'll do to
the mental side; Steven and Lucia worked a *lot* with me so there doesn't
really appear to be anything there any more.  I do know when I look at Bob
here, I drool, so I must be at least functional."
   Bob groaned.  Lucia grinned and said, "When I look at him, I drool
somewhere else besides my mouth." Bob groaned again.  I told him,
"Remember, Ceann, we've got customs.  We girls might arbitrarily add to
them; maybe like making a new girl feel welcome?"
   Bob covered his head and pretended to cower while we filled Mary in on
all the good stuff the Clann had come up with.
   We finally got home.  Mary had gotten a good grasp of what the Clann was
all about; when she met David, she looked at him hungrily and said, "I'm
gonna *like* living here."
   When she saw her new room, she stood there for a good five minutes
crying happy tears that finally someone cared for her.
   ------
   JANET (Sunday morning 3/5)
   Sunday morning, Pat and Val brought a potential middle-school recruit
over to work with her.  Mom had called Cynthia's mom and assured her
Cynthia would be welcome here and she'd be escorted to and from her house.
   Cynthia was a really cute thirteen-year-old with a *very* nice
Potential. She was already _talking_ pretty well, and we were going to
train her up some more.
   The entire Sexy Seven happened to be here.  Pat introduced her around as
"a wonderfully-bright star in the spirit realm." We all gave her a nice
hug. Steven picked her right off the floor and told her, "I could get used
to a beautiful lady like you." Cynthia pretended to smack him but beamed at
him and snuggled in.  That's my Big Brother!
   We worked with her for a couple hours.  By then, she could _inspect_
people, was fully outside, could switch bodies (fun!) and could put up a
full three-tier firewall with a delightfully-weird persona, VPNs and a full
body defense in 100 nano-shakes.  Damn, she was good.
   Bellana told her, "There's more stuff you don't need quite yet.  This
week, go outside exploring with Pat and Val.  Bop around, play with things,
have a *lot* of fun."
   Valerie told her, "How about Pat and I meet you tonight around 10:00,
and we do that threesome you hinted about?" Cynthia laughed and we grilled
her a little bit on it.  Fun, she's quick on the uptake!
   I told her, "We want you to _inspect_ anybody and everybody you run
across.  You'll get so you can do it at will without any effort at all.
   "_Inspecting_ someone has two purposes.  One is to find out their
attitudes and emotions, especially towards you; it's kind of a self-defense
idea.  The second purpose is to start them remembering if they can.  Pat
and Val here took a *lot* of mental inspecting and pushing before they
remembered, but well before then we could tell they had tremendous
Potential.
   "There's about four months left of the school year.  Since you three
won't be at your school next year, we want to have a solid tutoring group
and an Inner Circle established before you leave.  You're probably gonna be
one of the main members there and with us since you're so good at all this.
   "In every student you _inspect_, look for ability, Potential,
personality, ethics and willingness to help others.  Look for potential
tutors, relationship matches and Inner Circle spirits.  You'll probably
find some unsavory characters while you're at it, you can identify and
label them as such; that way there's a lot fewer surprises.
   "Let's see, at one of our parties, there were a couple middle-schoolers
who picked up on this stuff just from _inspections_.  As I recall, they
were..."
   Among us, we got them the names of the students.  She, Pat and Val said
they'd check them out this week.
   Enough work.  We girls shooed the boys out and grabbed her for the
important girl-talk.
   ------
   CYNTHIA
   Really *nice* people!  All the stuff they taught me was great!  I was
already looking forward to spending "quality time" with P&V that night.
   The girls kicked the guys out so we could girl-talk.  When I'd started
developing (four months ago), boy friends (none), girl friends (no, you
offering?), puberty problems (my boobs were sore frequently and my periods
were still irregular along with a large heavy hymen), clothes, fashions,
music, hobbies, all that neat girl stuff.
   I told them about flashing Bob and Natalie last year, and they broke up
for a couple minutes.
   Bellana told me, "Bob has that effect on women.  You'll find out about
some of our family customs a little later.  Who knows, you may end up
living a dream for a night."
   We had a good laugh about our Thursday meeting, too.  They especially
liked the "focus of adolescent girls' hormone-enhancement sessions."
   Lucia asked me, "You gonna grow more, Cynthia?  Rita's five foot
something?"
   I told them, "Highly probable.  The women in our family start out small.
At adolescence we start with tits and hips.  Then legs, arms and the other
stuff sprout in a hurry and keep on going at around an inch-plus in height
every month for quite a while.  I've gained three inches the last three
months, and I'll probably end up around five and a half feet or a bit more
and built something like Lucia or Bellana."
   Janet told us, "And that's a *very* nice way to be!" She grinned and
leered at Bellana.  Totally obvious they're together.
   She told me, "Good.  You'll fit in just fine with us.  Ana Matthews will
talk to your parents tonight and arrange for us to get you to our study
group at her place tomorrow evening for an hour or so.  Bring your books
and we'll work together.  By the way, Ana is sorta Kathleen's mom."
   I asked, "When I met Kathleen Thursday, she said she was the same girl
with Bob last year.  She sure doesn't look like it.  What's the story?"
   Janet smiled widely.  _Oh boy!  Rub hands together in anticipation._
"Have we got a story for you!"
   I learned about Natalie and Bob, Sunshine and the Sorcerer, death and
new bodies, the earthquake then Sunshine and Kathleen.  I was *very*
impressed.
   Lucia told me, "Work on all that stuff you learned today.  Soon we'll
teach you other things then later on you'll be ready to meet the rest of
Clann Reynolds.  There's over thirty of us in the Clann right now, and that
many can be a little too much just to dump you into the middle of things.
   "Once you learn the other stuff we'll teach you, you'll have a lot
better understanding of how the Clann and a lot of us operate.  Who knows,
there might even be a chance you can earn some decent pocket money."
   ------
   HENRY (Sunday 3/5)
   Saturday Probe Patrol -- no problem; we breezed through.  The practice
with the firewalls, various VPNs, defenses and transcription techniques had
been worthwhile; we were getting better at it all the time.
   Sunday morning, we set up an audit center in our living room.  Mario
brought in ten new systems from Fry's with LCD panel displays, lots of
memory, Microsoft Office, the whole works.  We spent a couple hours
networking them together and loading software then hooked up the cable
modem, monochrome and color laser printers and tested everything.
   We had plenty of "desk" space on folding tables, comfortable chairs,
lights, projector, several file cabinets, etc.  Dad and I were eating at
the Adams' most of the time as well as hanging out there so we weren't
really losing much.
   We still had our kitchen and kitchen table available as well as Dad's
and my bedrooms.  If any of us got a little tired, we could take a nap in
my room.  If anyone got a little horny, we could take a nap in my room --
yeah!
   We set it up here because seven of us lived right there on the same
floor.  Lucia, Bellana and everyone else except the North Hollywood
contingent were within a couple blocks.  As consultants, we agreed to chip
in $5 each per day we used it.
   JRD paid for the whole shebang plus supplies like paper, toner, paper
clips and the first refrigerator load of snacks and goodies.  Of course, we
consultants could take the $5 per day as a tax write off.
   Our computer VPNs to JRD worked just fine.  We tested everything out and
Mario set up our printers to work off the JRD server as well as our own
network.
   We moved over all the JRD Recording notes and analyses we'd done on our
personal computers and set up a filing system for it all.  Now we had a
central location in which to brainstorm, argue and research instead of our
separate kitchen tables.
   ------
   KATHLEEN (Sunday 3/5)
   Sunday morning, I met Mary.  She's a *lovely* girl.  Despite all she'd
been through, she was in excellent spirits.
   Elizabeth, David, Bob and I worked with her for several hours on getting
her up to speed on the spirit abilities we'd found.  She picked up
everything easily; she could run a probe and transcription rapidly and
bounce around outside with the best of us.  Good on 'er!
   I immediately informed her she had a security consulting position with
JRD.  "That should take care of pocket money.  We're gonna be doing a lot
of probes over the next year.
   "Next, you should get with Ana.  She's our resident R.N.  and sorta my
mom.  She's exactly the one to keep you on the road to physical recovery."
   In the afternoon, Bob and I looked at the teleportation stuff.  We asked
each of the gang if they'd run into it before; they'd had only minor
contact with it, and it had been shrouded in mystery and could have easily
been faked.  We were on our own, as usual.
   Okay.  We went over my memory of the event.  I told Bob, "I knew I
wanted the necklace.  I knew where it was and where I wanted it to be.  I
went down to it, focused in on it and was kinda thinking about how to *do*
it.
   "I knew I could clear a path to the surface and move it to our room.  As
I focused in on it among all the debris, I decided I wanted it in our room
on my study desk.  I focused in on it and the next thing I knew it was gone
from there.  I looked and it was sitting on my desk.
   "I had to clean the blood and other stuff off it, but that wasn't a
problem.  I'd done what I wanted so didn't think about it any more."
   We mused about it a little.  Bob said, "Ya know, it seems kinda like
when we put out a spirit-touch or actually move something like the water
heater last year.  We don't necessarily know how we do it, we just do it.
It's a *decision*.  Note if we don't commit totally to the decision, it
doesn't work.  The more we simply *know* it will happen without any
reservations, the easier and more complete the action.
   "As spirits, we already can be here then there without appearing to go
through the physical between.  Just maybe, this works similarly."
   I said, "We *know* we can do the spirit-touch.  There's no doubt
whatsoever the object will move with physical-universe force.  With the
firewalls, we have no doubt they will produce the required force needed to
repel something.  This might be a *decision* with no reservations at all to
go from point to point without travelling the distance."
   All right.  We started with a little paper clip.  Either of us could
pick it up and move it with a spirit-touch.
   I tried to move it from the desk to the floor by the door.  No luck.
   Okay, focus in on it really tightly and try again.  That felt better but
it still didn't move.
   All right.  Instead of focusing, I pervaded or filled it with my
attention.  Not just the outside, the entire volume.  Fuck!  It just
vanished.  We heard a tiny pop from the desk.
   "Okay," Bob said, "we've got the source point pretty well set, maybe we
have to visualize or identify the destination point better."
   Why not?  I put another sacrificial paper clip on the desktop.  Focus,
pervade, hold that then at the same time focus on the floor by the door. 
Hold it for a moment then *decide*.
   YES!  There was a tiny pop from the desk, a little pop by the door and
the paper clip was exactly where I'd envisioned it to appear!
   Bob exclaimed, "You're the *greatest*, Sunshine!  Jaysus, you're good!"
   I had to be modest.  "Gee, shucks.  It warn't much a'tall."
   We looked at it good and found it was bulged out as if had expanded from
the inside.  Hmm.  Not so good.
   It was slightly warm to the touch; other than that, we couldn't see much
difference besides the swelling.  When we _looked_ inside the metal's
structure, however, it was completely distorted.
   We looked at each other, looked at the paper clip and thought.  We came
up with the same idea at the same time.  Air!  I'd dumped a metallic object
into the air above the floor so the air and the metal were occupying the
same space at the same time.
   I said, "Let's try putting it into a vacuum at the target."
   I had plenty of paper clips.  Using a spirit-touch, I made a tiny point
in the air by the door and expanded it outwards in a sphere.  Result: a
small bubble with a vacuum inside.
   Okay.  Focus and pervade the paper clip on the desk, focus on the
destination inside the vacuum then decide.
   Yes!  There was a small pop from the desk and the paperclip appeared
inside the sphere.  I let the sphere collapse and we _looked_ the paperclip
over.  It appeared perfect.
   We could physically see the floor by the door, how about a destination
we couldn't see?  Let's try the end table to the left of the love seat in
the living room.
   As a spirit, it could _see_ it just fine; I mocked it up just like a
Reference Point for moving me.
   Give it a shot with a fresh paper clip.  Draw a sphere with a vacuum on
the end table, focus and pervade the source, focus on the end table and
*decide*.
   YES!  It vanished from my desk with a little pop.  We _looked_ at the
end table and there was a paper clip there which hadn't been there before.
Assuming it was the same paper clip, we had another success.
   Bob said, "I'd say that's a success.  Now let's try a source point we
can't physically see.  Em, there's a small rock in the back yard; let's
move it here by the door."
   No sweat.  I was able to vacuum, focus, pervade, focus on the
destination, vacuum and decide.  Yes, it was there!
   Bob said, "I'll bet the little pop is the air collapsing into the vacuum
left when the object moved."
   I said, "If we can perceive the source and destination, we can do it. 
Now that's me, how about you?"
   My Sorcerer is sooo good!  He teleported the rock from the floor in our
room to the back yard then to several spots outside including to the
street. He said, "Next hypothesis is it's not unique to you, Sunshine."
   I gave a big sigh of relief.  "Great!  That means I won't be stuck with
all the grunt work!"
   We _looked_ around the house and spotted an artificial plant about ten
inches high.  It had plenty of variation in density, materials and shape.
   Yes!  Either of us could move it around the living room; it looked a
little battered after a few ports, probably from hitting the vacuum and the
air collapsing on it.  Okay, let's get a little more ambitious.  "Try the
destination as our table in the cafeteria.  Right in the middle."
   That worked!  Bob said, "I _saw_ something.  Not quite sure what but
something happened during the move.  Sunshine, you move it back to the
kitchen table here and I'll watch the kitchen table really close.  Okay, do
it."
   I ported the plant from the cafeteria to the kitchen table.  Bob said,
"Yes.  The top of the plant twitched just a little; maybe a quarter of an
inch and it wasn't air displacement."
   Okay.  While I watched the cafeteria table, Bob ported it from the
kitchen table.  "Yep," I told him, "it twitched.  Let's bring it back
here."
   He ported it to the desktop.  We saw it twitch.  Shit, we're on to
something here.
   With my hand, I picked up the plant and looked at it.  Yeh, I'd seen
these same things for years.  Setting it on the desk, I moved it rapidly
from one end to the other and stopped it abruptly.  The top twitched almost
exactly like it had when we'd ported it!
   Bob said, "While I haven't had the honor of going through Don's physics
classes, I'd say we're looking at the classic physics phenomenon of
momentum.  That's what, the second law?  Try it slower and faster."
   Exactly what we expected.  The faster the motion and stop, the more the
sway or twitch.  Now, why would a port between here and the cafeteria cause
a momentum effect?
   Time for the physics master.  Don was available so he brought in a chair
and sat in.  Within five minutes he was able to port the same way.  He
looked at the twitching between here and the cafeteria, thought for a
moment and said, "That's about three blocks or five hundred feet.  What
happens if you port it from here to the Reynolds' front steps?  That's
roughly the same distance."
   Okay.  Bob did that and we perceived no twitching.  Don said, "That
tends to say the distance isn't the issue."
   He thought a bit then sketched out a map with our house, the school and
the Reynolds'.  We added in the Adams' complex, Sherry's place and the
Sonoras'.  Porting the plant among the various locations, we noted
sometimes it twitched and other times it was steady.  Hmm.
   After more discussion, we called in Henry and Don.  Henry popped over
and joined the discussion.  He picked up the trick in a couple minutes,
pondered the map and the results then said, "I might be wrong, but each
time the plant twitched, the destination was north or south of the source.
It didn't twitch if the two points were east or west.  You guys see the
same?"
   We looked at all the data and agreed.  Don said, "Let's try it from here
to Mario's place.  It's pretty much due west of here."
   Okay.  The plant barely quivered if it did at all.  Don said, "All
right. Remember the Sizzler in Sunland, just off the freeway?  As the crow
flies, it's due north.  Let's try that."
   Oh yes, a definite twitch this time, bigger than before.
   Henry said, "Based on the limited empirical data, east and west give no
momentum effects while north and south do.  Let's do something more
extreme. Go from here to the parking lot at Vail in Redmond."
   Henry did the port.  Watching the parking lot, we saw the plant skid a
foot or so and fall over.  Much more effect.
   We discussed it a bit.  North and south had an effect, why not east and
west.  Bob remembered we had a little decorative globe in the den and
brought it in.  We looked at Burbank in southern California and Redmond in
Washington.  Microsoft Streets said they were about 500 miles apart.
   Don idly spun the globe and I saw something.  "Look, guys, the Earth
spins counterclockwise from the North Pole, right?  Don, what's angular
momentum?"
   "Hmm.  'The product of the momentum of a rotating body and its distance
from the axis of rotation.' Shit, for practical purposes the Earth rotates
around the North and South Pole axes.  Since Redmond is 500 miles north of
here, it's closer to the axis of rotation.  The angular momentum is
different!  East and west have the same angular momentum while north and
south are different.  The further north, the less the angular momentum, so
we'd expect more difference from here.  That's why it skids, the angular
momentum changes."
   Henry said, "Yep.  Makes sense.  If I remember my middle-school classes
correctly, different locations on the Earth have different altitudes above
sea level.  That says to me Las Vegas or Phoenix are higher in altitude
than Burbank which alone gives them a different angular momentum.
   "Barring further experiential data, we've got to take altitude into
account as well as north and south.  For example, Denver, Colorado, is both
north of us and is at a much higher altitude.  In some cases, the
north/south and altitude may either cancel each other out or add/subtract
to the angular momentum.
   "We'll probably either have to calculate the differences or find develop
a way to _feel_ the differences in angular momentum.  Which brings up
another angle!
   "From idle chit-chat with the rest of the gang, we've done outside
exploring over a lot of the Earth.  Some of us have been around the Moon; I
recall Pat saying he and Val bopped over to Mars once.
   "By the definition of angular momentum being around the axis of
rotation, we're gonna have to be wary of what reference we're talking
about. Here on Earth, we might get away with referencing the planet only.
However, the Earth's axis of rotation is around the Sun and the Moon's axis
of rotation is around the Earth.  For a port to the Moon, we'll probably
have to take both into account.
   "Off the top of my head, the further the distance, the more complex the
operation.  We've not only got the Earth's axis but also if we look at
other Solar System bodies we've got their rotations around their axes as
well as around the Sun.
   "Even further, if we go extra-solar, we've got to look at the rotation
of the Solar System around the galaxy, the galaxy around the universe and
who knows how much further out.
   "I'd say we've gotta investigate some more.  To get a *good* handle on
teleportation we'll probably either have to do one hell of a lot of complex
calculations today's astronomers may not be able to do or find a way to
intuit or know the differences."
   Don said, "Yeh.  We're dealing in physical-universe stuff here.  Angular
momentum deals with physical energy.  We've all become familiar with
spirit-touches which directly interact with the physical universe.  To
handle teleportation without issues, we'll probably have to add or subtract
the angular momentum energy difference."
   Bob said, "Kat and I, at least, have bled off spiritual energy and are
familiar with adding energy.  Orgasmic energy is spiritual but seems to
have some overlap into the physical since it appears to affect our bodies.
   "What I hope to find out is we can do any object, any distance and any
angular momentum differences with adding or bleeding off the physical
energy without esoteric mathematical calculations 99% of us couldn't do
without a lot of work; that's work on each port, not including the learning
curve and practice to understand the math."
   Don put in, "A lot of physics deals with actual calculations. 
Sometimes, however, if one *understands* the concept, they can get a very
close feel or approximation to the solution without actually having to do
the mathematics involved."
   Bob's turn.  "All righty then.  We've kinda got a choice between
extremely hairy math calculations which no one's probably done before with
unknown variables such as the axis of rotation of the Milky Way *or* we can
intuit or decide as a spirit what the result is to be.
   "Note we've developed the concept of Reference Points.  They work with
the physical universe and we use them as spirits to move about.  As an
ideal solution, I envision spotting the object, source and destination and
simply *deciding* the port occurs with the addition or subtraction of the
physical-universe energy necessary for success.
   "I'd like to see us able to use the same Reference Points for
teleportation.  When we blink or move between Reference Points, we simply
*decide*.  Our goal is to make teleportation as simplistic as a spirit
being in one place then in another.  We may well have to understand to some
extent the math underneath, but we want simply to be able to *do*
teleportation, not be required to develop or use the *how* each time.
   "I might be wrong but I'm not in doubt.  I think among us all, we can
develop a way to teleport reasonably easily without a lot of stress and
strain.  We may run into other parameters; perhaps only the high-powered
spirits like Janet and P&V can move a hundred pounds from Burbank to New
York City.  On the other hand, even we low-powered folk might be able to
move New York City to a galaxy on the other side of the known universe
without a moment's strain.
   "We've heard the air-collapse sounds.  We'll either have to live with it
or devise a work-around; maybe something like a _touch_ at the destination
moving the air aside in a half-second and doing the same at the source then
letting it collapse quietly.  Say an entire second for a soundless or
'graceful' port; if we don't care about the noise, just do it.  The larger
the object, the more displacement and the louder and more obvious the
sound.
   "We'll probably end up somewhere between those limits.  Where, we'll
find out.  Good on ya all!  *Good* on ya!  So far today the four of us have
taken a moment's thought and have already established a working basis for
future operations.
   "We now know teleportation of at least inanimate objects is possible
among the four of us here.  Perhaps it's a talent only some of us have;
we'll find out.  We'll probe at least some of the limits.  We may find
we're limited to five pounds or perhaps we can port a galaxy to a different
universe!
   "I have no doubt we'll figure out combinations.  Maybe Henry and I have
different limits than Janet.  Maybe Kathleen and Valerie together can move
the Earth, Solar System, Galaxy or Universe.  As I recall, it was
Archimedes who said something like, 'Give me a place to stand and with a
lever I will move the whole world.'
   "Mull it over.  Kat and I will continue work on it and call you in for
the brain-stumpers.  The way we're doing it obviously doesn't take angular
momentum into account; I leave that up to Don and Henry.  Of course, since
you know some of the basics, you can come up with anything you wish.  I'm
more than willing to accept your help."
   Chapter 26
   PATRICK (Sunday 3/5)
   After the Fearsome Five was done putting Cynthia through the wringer, we
took her to our places and introduced her to the parental units.
   Mom (call me Susan) welcomed her, _saw_ she was one of us and gave her a
big spirit-hug as well as a physical hug.  "You're welcome in our home any
time, Cynthia.  Besides, we need someone to ride herd on P&V besides those
hellions next door."
   Dad (call me Fred) grinned at her.  "Yeh.  *Any* time."
   Mom smacked him good.  "Sorry.  Ya gotta forgive him, Cynthia; he's been
perpetually horny and lecherous from the moment he got outside."
   Cynthia grinned at them.  "And I bet you don't have a single complaint
about that, right?"
   Mom didn't.
   Val's parents were much the same.  Come over any time.  Spend a minute,
hour, night, day, week, that's okay.  Mi casa, su casa.
   Good!  We could get a lot of work done.  Besides, Dad had good reason to
be lecherous; Cynthia's definitely easy on the eyes.
   ------
   HENRY (Monday afternoon/evening 3/6)
   Right after school Monday, the audit team gathered at our new digs and
presented our findings to the JRD Owners and Accountants (Aaron and
Barbara).  As our most knowingly-experienced entrepreneurs, Pat and Val
made the presentation while I ran the projector.
   Of course we used a PowerPoint show; what self-respecting corporate
bureaucrat would do otherwise?  Grin.
   As a start, we'd graphed every major Balance Sheet line over the past
five years.  We showed several related ones at a time; Pat showed they all
varied properly together.
   He said, "From a look at some of the probe reports and at Frank's
overall review, I'd say the books are in decent shape.  We don't really
suspect any hanky-panky there.
   "There are a few issues, though." I popped up a slide with several
bullet points.
   "First, the studio and equipment are available 24/7 and we've got staff
or consultants available and willing to work all shifts if needed. 
However, from analyzing the schedule over the last five years, we've only
had bookings for around a third of the time or one shift.  Since we've got
three good-sized recording studios and two small ones, four mixing studios
and a Foley stage, that tells me of the ten facilities we've got, we're
only utilizing about 10% of our actual capacity.  For example, the Foley
studio has been booked only one shift a week average for the past five
years; that's 1 shift over the 21 available or 5% utilization.
   "Looking at the advertising and promotional accounts, the spending's
been the same the entire time.  With a little Internet research and a few
judicious _looks_ at other studios in the same industry with the same
approximate size, we're *way* under-spending.  We're not attracting,
soliciting or driving in enough business.  I'd say that's a major reason
we've only got a 4% profit.
   "Recommendation: More advertising, promotion and sales.  Most of the
scheduled gigs are during the day.  Our prices are around the usual
independent-studio average, so that's not really an issue.  Perhaps offer a
slight discount for evening or night sessions?  If we could double our
bookings we could bring the utilization up to around 25% and take the
profit up to 7 to 8%.  If we could get up to 50% utilization we'd get the
profit up to around 15 to 20% which is a quite reasonable range. 
Questions?"
Some; we discussed things a bit and decided to take a hard look at the
sales area.
   Valerie told them, "Since we did some customer satisfaction surveys,
we've got some results on that.  Henry, show us the survey results slide,
please."
   Glad to oblige.  Again several bullet points.
   Valerie said, "Most are satisfied with our results and think it's an
acceptable value.  My recommendation is to increase our customer service by
being even more friendly, getting things done even faster and simply making
a follow up call or two after the service to see if the customer is happy.
The cost is minimal; put one more staff person in Sales, even part-time,
and the word of mouth and repeat business will increase.  Henry, go back to
the issues slide.
   "Note that only 34% of the bookings are from previous customers.  As
detail, only about ten use us for 90% of their work, and the rest of the
repeats have used us only a couple times a year.  That says to me at least
our customer service and follow up suck!  It's not our pricing; the surveys
showed that.  It's our service.  We need to be able to promise them a Honda
and deliver them a Cadillac for the same price and time or faster."
   We discussed that a bit.  Valerie had me show several other slides on
the customer surveys.
   After it settled down, Pat told them, "The next issue is equipment. 
We've apparently got standard, brand-name equipment that's operational and
fairly new.  Ana ran into a couple of the engineers who've borrowed about
$50K replacement value of equipment to do some recording for their kids. 
Not that I'm against employee benefits, but that leaves them and us
exposed. If there's a fire in the garage, the equipment gets stolen,
anything like that, they're in a heap of hurt, as are we.
   "Recommendation: Cease and desist on *all* borrowing.  Form a tiny
department inside for equipment rentals and enable the employees to rent
this kind of stuff for, oh, say $1 per day per $1,000 value.  Ensure our
insurance covers it and everyone wins."
Valerie said, "In addition, we might give extremely low studio rates for
staff.  If you've got a couple of recording engineers like these two are,
enable them to rent a studio and use the equipment for an extremely low
rate in the off-hours.
   "That might increase employee loyalty and bring in a few extra shekels.
Wear and tear on the equipment is minimal since it's powered up all the
time anyway.  Tapes for recording are somewhat expensive; we could give
them an at-cost rate on them or simply subsidize them.
   "Who knows, one of the kids in a band could talk about how good JRD is
to them to one of their parents, the parent could be in the industry and at
least investigate bringing their next gig to us.  Good will, word of mouth.
Even one small gig would finance a hundred or so subsidized sessions."
   Some discussion on that then we went to the next and last major issue.
   Valerie told them, "You guys may not be interested in this one but we
wimmin are.  Steven drove down and took some pictures of the building
Sunday morning.  Henry?"
   The first slide showed an industrial-type metal building with a sign for
JRD Recording.  Valerie said, "I've got no quibble with the building
architecture per se.  The sign, however, is *crappy*.  It's old, faded and
has absolutely no esthetic appeal.  The building roof has dents, old leaves
and litter over it.  Next picture."
   It was the parking lot with a few cars.  "Note all the litter.  The
fence is broken in several spots, sags in others, the parking slot lines
are faded out and the concrete wheel stops are either missing or skewed. 
There's potholes in several places.  Next slide."
   Focus on the entrance.  "Repair the cracked glass.  Clean or replace the
entrance mat.  Redesign and repaint the door sign.  Next picture."
   A close-in shot of the building side.  "*Weeds*!  Note the peeling
paint. Next picture!"
   Apparently the reception area.  "Repulsive.  Replace the carpet.  Dump
the industrial chairs and reception desk.  Decorate, decorate, decorate. 
Steven said the receptionist was clean and neat but weekend-casually
dressed.
   "Several of us _looked_ around inside.  The place is shabby and dingy.
Equipment tends to be dusty.  The bathrooms...  well, I'm not sure I'd
wanna pull my panties down in any of them.
   "Recommendation: Clean the fucking place up.  It looks *shabby*.  A
potential customer driving by would either miss the place entirely because
of the sign, be turned off by the outside or be completely unimpressed with
the reception area.  You've probably got three strikes already.  90% of the
clients who *didn't* do another gig with us had a large negative reaction
to the environment.
"Customers know us by our physical appearance and equipment as well as
our products.  The 34% repeat is probably from those who know our product
is good and can handle the disorder.  The non-repeaters, who knows?  Maybe
there was too much dust?  Since it's not the price -- by the way, if we do
this right we could increase our rates by 50% and *still* have customers
beating down our doors -- it's gotta be the promotion and presentation.
   "Rehabilitate the sign, parking lot and outside.  Perhaps hire a
part-timer to clean up the outside *every day*; with the wind, it'll
probably get new trash blown in every day.  Get a sign painter to paint a
mural on the outside, and maybe change it every couple months.  Make it
look fresh and attractive!
   "We want people going by to say to themselves, 'Damn, that's a
nice-looking place!' We want them to pull into the parking lot just to look
around at something nice and compare it to the shabbiness they find
elsewhere in the area.
   "The equipment and staff may do perfectly fine work, but we've got to
deliver customer satisfaction and appeal to their esthetics too.
   "Survey artists.  Leone and Mark told us they do their best in a clean,
neat, professional environment; a lot of you were at the Christmas Dance at
McCambridge.  George Tanner and the Inner Circle ensured *that* was
professional.
   "You could have the next Beatles band in JRD Recording; if they look
around and see peeling paint, discolored ceiling tile, worn floors, old
carpet, dust and dirty bathrooms, what do they think?  They'll probably
think JRD Recording doesn't consider they're very special.
   "Clean up the environment.  Get the customer service up.  Treat
*everyone* as the most important rising star *ever* to come to the studio.
Treat the employees' kids as well or even better than the full-pop
customers.  I'm not talking servility or sucking up; I'm talking friendly
professional *service*.
   "I'd say most artists don't have much of a clue on the technicalities
behind good recordings or mixings.  Make it so they don't have to
understand.  Make it so easy for them they enjoy doing what they're doing
and not have attention on the petty -- to them -- details.  They could care
less what brand tape we're using; we need to use the best available to get
the best product; promise a Honda, deliver a Cadillac.
   "There's a lot of superstition in the music industry.  If you had a hit
come from one recording session, and the environment was good or better
yet, great, where do you think you'd come for your next session?
   "We went shopping Sunday morning at several record stores and checked
out the album labels.  Be they records, DVDs, CDs or tapes, each had the
recording studio name.  Hey guys, free advertising!"
   Pat said, "To recapitulate: Increase customer service, increase
promotion and clean the place up.  You've got a smooth-running ethical cash
cow that needs freshening.  You could drop a couple hundred thousand on
renos and have it pay for itself in six months."
   Frank Duane was next, "Basically you've got a decent shop.  There's a
few outnesses like the equipment borrowing.  Some employees take home
office supplies.  No big deal; Pat's already offered a recommendation on
the equipment.
   "What I'd recommend on the employee's taking office supplies is to make
it okay.  Circulate a quiet underground memo saying a limited amount is not
a problem.  Sometimes someone may need a case of paper or pencils for some
reason; offer them office supplies at *our* cost.  That way you eliminate
any guilt or 'almost found me out' reactions and hell, running the deal's a
standard office expense and a very minor one at that.
   "That, along with employee or family discounts on studio time should
give you damned good staff morale.  Let *everyone* in on our plans to make
JRD Recording a shining example in the independent recording industry!
   "With a more esthetic working environment, guilt-free fringe benefits
and perhaps even a bit of true profit-sharing later, JRD gets maybe an
additional five or six million dollars clear profit next year with more to
come and *everyone* wins."
   ------
   PATRICK (Monday 3/6)
   Ana took Cynthia home after the girls got done grilling her Sunday
afternoon and she'd met our folks.  She had a chat with her parents about
Cynthia being a part of the middle-school tutoring group.  Since Don is a
McCambridge teacher, she carried a lot of clout.
   She got their agreement to have Cynthia come to the Mickey C study group
at least for a while to get training on running a tutor's group and to meet
her colleagues from McCambridge.
   Ana _told_ us a little later none of the rest of the Gold family were
really prospects for becoming Clann.  "They've all got traces of ability so
they get along with others really well; Rita's a good Sensitive.  Unless
I'm totally mistaken, however, there's very little further Potential.  I
might be wrong but I'm not in doubt.  Cynthia's the shining star."
   Val and I blinked over (outside) to her place about 10:00 Sunday
evening. We ensured she had her body defenses up and we took off exploring.
   We nosed around the school a little more, poking into nooks and
crannies. We showed her Mrs.  Stroh's condom stash and the open box behind
the drawer in the teacher's lounge.
   Cynthia said, _"Just for fun, let's inspect all the teachers tomorrow
and see who's doing what to whom how often."_
   Sounded like a plan.  We spent several more hours checking out the
Burbank night life.  Nothing major, just lots of fun bopping around,
spirit-hugging and playing tag.
   About 6:30 Monday evening, Val and I went over to Cynthia's house to
pick her up for study.  Ana had arranged we would be by, so there weren't
any surprises.
   We got introduced to the parents and her sister Rita.  They're all nice
bright people and we'll probably be seeing quite a bit of them for a while.
If Cynthia joins the Clann, we'll probably see a lot of them.
   I flirted with Rita a bit; like Cynthia, she didn't back down and
flirted back with a big smile.
   Ana was right.  They didn't have much Potential but had a bit of
sensitivity; Rita had a lot.  We're gonna have to handle things gingerly.
Cynthia said she'd be really careful about displaying abilities so there
wouldn't be too many questions about unusual behavior.
   Hmm.  We'll make a talk with Sherry, for one, on good ways to handle the
mundane family members.  Since Val's and my folks were ones of us, they
didn't have any issues on us being together and working with the Clann or
Inner Circle.  They simply didn't have the time to get involved themselves
right now.
   We escorted her to Ana's, several blocks away.  In the first block, we
showed her how to _link_ body perceptions so we'd always know where the
others were and could move together easily.  While none of us were dancers
per se, we did some credible windings-about the rest of the way.
   We introduced her to Don.  He admired her and gave her a little hug. 
"Welcome to our home.  Pat and Val say you're the Star of the realm.  If
they say so, I believe it.  Too bad you're not about ten years older, I'd
put a really lecherous eye on you."
   Kathleen was there and called out, "Cynthia, don't let him fool you; age
doesn't matter to him." She told her, _"Call him 'Daddy' like a little
girl."_
   Cynthia beamed at him and said, "I'm very pleased to meet you," then
squeaked, "Daddy."
   Throwing his hands up, Don sighed, rolled his eyes and blushed.  "I'll
say no more; I'm in enough trouble already from Missy Lillian."
   Val told Cynthia, "We'll tell you *all* about it later.  For now, just
think of 'Daddy' here as being almost as sexy as Bob."
   The Fearsome Five came in, so with Bob, Kat and Sherry, we had the full
Mickey C Inner Circle group.  We introduced Cynthia to Sherry, who said, "I
remember you.  Rita's your older sister?"
   Cynthia agreed she was.  "I don't *think* she'll disown me for hanging
out with the Brain Trust."
   We three and the Seniors split off and went over the administration and
technology they'd been using to run the tutoring group.  Bob showed us the
tutors' database they used and how they matched up students with them.
   We discussed matchmaking and situation-handling for quite a while.  Kat
showed us the database George had developed for cataloging and categorizing
people by personality, interests and attitudes.
   She said, "Pretty much everyone we meet goes in here.  George designed
it so we could search on just about characteristic possible, so if we need
someone who trains dogs, we'd search Special Abilities for 'dog.' In this
one, we also have several hundred adults Bob and I ran into while we were
doing renovation work.  We found another good recruit for a special project
from it."
   Bob asked Val and me, _"You want her for your Inner Circle?"_
   We told him, _"Definitely.  She's a winner."_
   Bob told Cynthia, "All right.  Cynthia, welcome to the life of a free
spirit and 'this thing of ours.'"
   He talked to the three of us, "At McCambridge, we've got things rolling
along pretty well.  It took several of us three years of intensive work to
get it there, so don't expect to change your school in a week.
   "One thing that's worked for us for over five years now is the Inner
Circle having its own study group.  While you're welcome here to ours with
no questions asked, I'd advise you set up your own at one of your places
for the moment.  You three live close together, so that's not a problem.
   "For now, your job at school is recruiting and cataloging.  Inspect
every soul you're around.  Don't pitty-pat around, go down to the first
breath they ever took.  You're looking for tutors, special other training
or abilities -- maybe as esoteric as flint knapping -- and especially more
members for your Inner Circle.  You're all at Mickey C next year, so you
need current sixth and seventh graders to replace yourselves.  You'll
probably run into some assholes too; just note them down as such.
   "The minimum requirement someone should be to be part of your Inner
Circle is they should be one of us.  Have Pat and Val explained what that
means?"
   Cynthia said, "No.  If they did, it went over my head."
   Sherry said, "For a person to be 'one of us' they need to remember and
use their telempathic abilities.  They need to be able to move outside
their bodies at will.  Anyone else without those abilities, we generally
refer to as 'Sensitives' if they've got them to some degree, otherwise
they're 'mundanes.' We're not disparaging their ethics, intelligence or
other life abilities, they're just not in the running to be able to do the
things we -- and you -- can do.
   Ana was nearby and chipped in.  "Cynthia, I met the rest of your family
and _inspected_ each member right down to their toenails.  They're very
nice, ethical and friendly people, but I couldn't find enough Potential in
them to think they could be one of us.  I'm sorry but you're the only one
in the family.
   "Not to say that won't change later.  We've only been working with this
stuff for only three months now, but so far, unless we make another
breakthrough, we've only found about one in ten with the Potential.  Maybe
another one in ten has a small ability in a couple of the areas.  Rita, for
example, has a nice bit of empathic sensitivity.  That's one reason she
gets along with people so well."
   Cynthia told us, "I understand.  Just from what the guys taught me
Sunday I was able to tell that.  No insult intended and none taken."
   Bob said, "Pat, Val, during this next week I'd like you to train Cynthia
in doing probe and transcription work.  Get her up to speed on *everything*
we know.
   "Cynthia, we've got several other people starting up a tutoring group at
North Hollywood High, similar to what's going on at Mickey C.  They'll work
on their middle school like we are yours.
   "However, the Inner Circles, Brain Trusts and all that are only part of
the picture.  P&V will fill you in on JRD, Vail, security consulting and
last but not least, Clann Reynolds.
   "Cynthia, you're intrinsically qualified for membership in the Clann by
being one of us; these two will fill you in on the peculiarities we've
somehow managed to come up with.  Next week, if you're interested, we'll
get you to a Clann meeting to meet the others."
   We took Cynthia back home; she lives just behind our complex.  If we cut
through the alley we're less than five minutes apart door-to-door.
   She gave us each a hug and kiss and said, "Thank you so much for what
you've done for me.  I feel I'm on the first steps of a great adventure."
   Val told her, "You are.  We all are.  We've just begun to find out
abilities, and we'll probably be finding out about hazards along the way.
See you tomorrow at school."
   We went back to Ana's for the Clann meeting.
   ------
   ANA (Sunday 3/5)
   Mary and I got together Sunday afternoon.  I _looked_ her all over and
through.  I took her along with me, explaining what I _saw_ and thought as
we went along.
   Besides raping her all three places many times, they'd beaten her
severely.  Not a square millimeter had escaped from some sort of injury. 
She'd had several broken ribs, a broken nose, cheek and jaw, and several
broken fingers and teeth.  Almost every joint had been sprained.
   One rib had been broken enough that much more movement would have
pierced her heart.  The paramedics had done an excellent job moving her.
   Most everything had healed over the last year while she'd been in her
coma.  Yesterday, Lucia, Elizabeth and Bob had given her injury energy
bleeds on the way here, so that was in reasonable shape.
   They'd taken her right thumb at the first joint with garden shears; it
was a wonder she hadn't bled to death, but they'd wanted her around a while
longer to play with so they'd put a bandage over it.
   The county surgeon had sown a skin flap over the end.  Not too bad a
job, but it wasn't neatly done.
   The assholes had cut off her right nipple along with a good half-inch of
her breast.  After they'd dumped her, she ended up lying on it which
stopped the bleeding and she lived.
   The surgeons had patched it up rather crudely.  I was honest with her
(it's really hard to flat-out lie when someone's telempathic).  "Mary, it's
good and not so good.
   "The good is that almost every bone was set correctly.  The third finger
on your left hand is a touch crooked, but it's not bad at all considering
the middle finger was set at the same time.  Medically, it's really
difficult to get those right because they're so small.
   "The rib here has a lump as does your nose.  That's to be expected and
is normal with breaks and sets like that.  Your cheek could have been
pulled out a touch more; probably that was the least of their worries at
the time.
   "The first round at the beginning was completely emergency work and
considering the condition your body was in, they did damned good.  After
the first month when your parents left the scene and you were still in a
coma, you became a charity case.
   "The longer a patient's in a coma, the less the chance of recovery.  So,
as time goes on, the less priority was given to making it 'all pretty,'
especially with the cost involved.  The emergency work took away the threat
so they let things be.
   "You've been awake now for what, three and a half months?  Even if you
had access to all the wealth in the world, very few surgeons would touch
reconstructive surgery right now.
   "Your job for the next several weeks or months is to get your strength
back.  Then we can look at any elective reconstructive surgery.  Elizabeth
_showed_ me how much nerve energy you had tied up; that in and of itself
delayed healing.  Now that we can bleed it off, it will make your recovery
immensely faster.
   "So keep getting the energy bleeds until it's gone.  That'll get your
body back up to speed as fast as possible.  Eat a lot of protein, take your
vitamins and start a mild stretch and exercise program to build your
strength up.  Bob and Kat can help you there; they do a lot of training
that way.  Check in with me at least once a week so we see how things are
doing."
   Mary finally smiled a little.  "Then it's not all doom and gloom after
all."
   "Nope.  Even with the current medical technology, you've got an
excellent chance of getting things pretty much decent.  We can't grow a new
thumb or nipple right now but at least the standard cosmetic surgery is
able to make the injury sites presentable.  You worried about being
sexually attractive?"
   "Oh, yeh.  I don't *worry* about it per se but it's a concern."
   I laughed.  "That's fine.  Let me tell you one thing about the guys
around here and probably most of the ones you'll be around.  They're much
more interested in you the spirit than your body.
   "I have no doubt whatsover that every male around here will find you
sexually attractive; it's you and the way you glow with life that does it.
The fact is, you're extremely physically attractive just the way you are.
The scars and injuries, for those who know the story, are honorable scars
won in a courageous battle.
   "Now, not to change the subject too much, you on any birth control?"
   "No, that never came up in the hospital."
   "Well, my advice is you get on permanent BC ASAP.  The wrong time to
think about it is when you're in bed with a fella who's driving you nuts
with pleasure -- and I don't doubt it'll happen pretty soon.  Elizabeth or
I can take you.  You drive?"
   "No.  I had a learner's permit once before all this happened."
   "Well, that's another thing you should get.  There's enough spare
vehicles around for you to borrow on occasion."
   "I'll do that."
   "Good.  Now, all this advice was from an old-lady nurse.  Get with Lucia
and trade a show and tell.  I'll betcha one thing she'll tell you is Steven
was *never* concerned about what happened to her or her scars.
   "Okay, now get outta here and start feeding your face good.  Bob and Kat
can show you in a few minutes several exercises to get you going, so get
with them."
   "Thanks, Ana.  I really appreciate the time you've spent with me."
   "That's not an issue at all.  That's one reason I transferred my R.N. 
license here."
   "Great.  Now as a by-the-way...  if it's not too personal, Kathleen said
you were 'sorta' her mom.  I can tell you're both Irish, so what's the
story?"
   Yes!  I *like* telling this story.  So I did.
   ------
   KATHLEEN (Monday 3/6)
   I took Mary in to see Mrs.  Baer.  They _inspected_ each other and
smiled a lot.
   Mary told her story briefly.  What it came down to was that she'd missed
an entire school year.  She asked, "So, how can I get back to speed?"
   Mrs.  Baer smiled.  "We've got ways and means here.  First thing I'll do
is send for your transcript so we can get credits and required courses
transferred.
   "It's almost spring break now and it'll take a couple weeks to get the
transcript in.  In the meantime, how about you get with Steven and Lucia
and start boning up on the Junior-level classes.  When the transcript comes
in, we'll see what you need and do some placement tests.  Besides, that'll
give you a couple more weeks to get the body back in better condition to
endure a full day's worth of classes and fending the boys off.
   "Thanks to the Brain Trust getting McCambridge such a high scholastic
achievement record, the school district's given us a *lot* of leeway in
placing students.  Unless there's some strange requirement we just can't
meet, I'll bet you can test out of your entire Sophomore year and what
you've missed so far of the Junior year."
   Mary smiled and glowed all over.  "That would be *great*!  I guess Bob's
good for something besides sweet-talking the girls."
   Mrs.  Baer laughed and told her, "You live with his parents.  Make a
talk with Elizabeth and she'll brag for a *long* time.  I'll bet even she
doesn't know all the good things he's done."
   I told her, "Talk with Ana, too.  She's got a tale herself to tell about
the Sorcerer.
   "I had a similar academic situation a couple months ago when I came in
as Kathleen Donovan.  In my case, as a spirit I'd already been through the
materials so that wasn't an issue.
   "You're probably good enough now you could go the GED route with a
little study.  We don't really recommend that right now."
   Mary laughed.  "I probably could, especially with the Inner Circle's
help.  I agree though; let's see what the placement tests show.  Besides, I
_felt_ a lot of nice guys here on the way in.  I'm in the market and
McCambridge looks like a great place to shop!"
   ------
   BOB (Monday 3/6)
   At Clann meeting, we brought Mary in to meet the rest of the Clann. 
Lucia introduced her, "Folks, this is Mary Shinto; she's the only one who
had the guts to stand up for me and she paid for it dearly.  The county
kicked her out of the hospital last week, and she's entirely on her own.
   "However, David and Elizabeth graciously offered to take her in so now
she's here with us -- and we're gonna work her butt off!  Let's hear it for
Mary!"
   Lots of applause, wide smiles, hugs, kisses, spirit-hugs and _kisses_!
   Lucia glared around.  "She's still physically a bit frail, so don't all
you guys hit on her at once!  Take turns!"
   Mary laughed and looked around at all the men.  "Hmm."
   Anyway, she was fully accepted.  One more wonderful, competent Clann
member!
   Several people reported excellent results on the injury energy bleeding,
including Mary.  Kat and I'd been doing exchanges on them for the past
couple days; she told me her ankle felt really good.  *Now* I can chase her
around!
   Sherry brought something up during the Clann Meeting.  "It's 8:30.  If
you look around, most of the active or immediate Clann members are
physically here; we've got thirty bodies in here, and it's standing room
only.  The dining room's packed and the living room and den has to listen
in to whomever's talking.
   "We've mentioned before we should separate the Inner Circle and Brain
Trust from the Clann itself.  We've had a tradition since mid-September
that the McCambridge Inner Circle meet here at Ana and Don's for study.  It
worked fine for several months.  The group grew to include a lot of the
parents for important meetings, and now we have others such as Mario for
Clann meetings.
   "It's crowded here.  I've talked with Elizabeth and Ana about this; I
make a motion we have the regular Clann meetings at the Reynolds who're set
up to handle the crowd and have the regular Mickey C Inner Circle study
group here at Ana's."
   Father seconded the motion and we discussed it.  Ana told us, "We
started out here with Bob and Natalie.  We added George and Sherry in a
couple weeks then the Circle increased to include the Fearsome Five. 
Parents began joining meetings and now we have this crowd.
   "Don and I are not unwilling to be hosts.  However, the facilities
really aren't appropriate for frequent gatherings this size.  Our
'daughter' Kathleen graduates this year; Don and I have a vested interest
in the Inner Circle since we're Burbank citizens and Don is a McCambridge
teacher so we're not necessarily going to kick the Inner Circle out next
year.  Perhaps next year the Inner Circle could meet for study at a current
parent's home, like the Adams'."
   Louise promptly put the back of her hand to her forehead and pretended
to faint; Blake carried her into our bedroom to administer restorative
procedures.  Something I missed in Boy Scout first aid; how does kissing a
woman's nekkid breasts revive her?
   "Anyway, next year is seven months away.  For the time being, the study
group can meet here; it's a five-minute walk to the Reynolds if we have a
Clann meeting.  Probably the Clann meetings will eventually cut down to
once a week or so; that's to be determined."
   Mother talked next, "The Reynolds' home is set up for large gatherings;
most of you have been there at least once for some party or another.  We
can seat 75 in the dining room alone and have reasonable street parking. 
Dave and I make enough income to subsidize fully the meeting expenses for
snacks, coffee and such, but you've already set a plan in motion to
reimburse those types of expenses so it's a moot point."
   Evin said, "For no-holds-barred meetings with caterers, special
circumstances and such, we can always meet at JRD.  It's a short drive, and
there's free parking and special facilities we can use.  Remember the
dinner and meeting where we passed out M O N E Y?  If we discuss even a
couple minutes of business concerning JRD, we can write off the entire
expense."
   I reminded them one only had to be here to vote; they didn't have to
bring their body.
   After a bit more discussion, we voted to have the Clann Meeting at the
Reynolds', special meetings as needed at JRD and the Mickey C Inner Circle
study stay at Ana's.  Worked out fine; Kat and I could sleep at either
place!
   Evin gave a little talk.  "Since all of you are JRD consultants of one
sort or another, we always seem to discuss some JRD business at the Clann
Meetings.  That being the case, the Owners voted to have JRD pick up all
expenses for the Clann Meetings wherever they may be unless it's totally
social and Aaron can't figure out a way to deduct it.  If he can't, the
Owners themselves will pick up the tab.
   "That doesn't decrease the need for the Clann to have its own income! 
We *will* have expenses.  Thelma's set up to take the exams she needs to
get her P.I.  license in a week or so; we've already had two requests from
EverAlert for background checks and for a skip-trace.  That's income to the
Clann.
   "We got the incorporation papers run through the state; it helps to have
contacts in Sacramento.  As of Thursday last week, 'Clann Reynolds' is a
legal not-for-profit corporation.
   "Madam Treasurer informs me she has signature cards for a bank account.
The President, Vice-President and Treasurer will have signature authority;
she'll set up the account tomorrow.  We'll probably start with a
several-thousand-dollar loan for working capital, courtesy of the JRD
Owners.
   "Now as to the Probe Patrol.  They did a bang-up job under Ana's and
Louise's coordination.  The research team found some excellent points;
nothing major like we found at Vail but none-the-less very worthwhile.  In
several months, JRD expects some consultant bonuses to trickle out."
   Applause and cheers!
   Evin continued, "Tomorrow, the O'Banains, Siobhan and I will go down to
JRD Recording to start a three-day oversight visit.  We'll inspect points
the research team brought up and do some other cross-checking.  We expect
great results."
   More applause.
   "Since you now have a legal organization and a bank account, the Clann
can start producing income.  You've got three requests from EverAlert right
now so Ana can go ahead and schedule them.  She's gonna spread them out so
everyone has an opportunity to get experience and make pocket money.
   Chapter 27
   KATHLEEN (Monday evening 3/6)
   All right!  Lots of progress; The Clann's a legal company now and all
that stuff.
   After the meeting, Bob and I talked for an hour or so with Don, Ana,
David and Elizabeth.  Bob briefed them on our teleporting experiments; they
were quite interested.  David said, "As Pat mentioned, it would give us a
back-to-the wall physical defense.  Have you tried porting anything living
yet?"
   I said, "Bob and I haven't.  Don?"
   Don told us, "Not yet.  Henry and I are taking some time tomorrow to
work on the angular momentum issue.  We'll also see if there's a different
method besides simply _deciding_.  We need to work out those things before
we try living organisms.  I'm assuming to start with the cellular life in a
living organism would port with the physical part.  We'll start with plants
then work up to laboratory mice.  I don't think we'll start with Geeser.
   "As for mundanes, the spirit will probably port just the same.  By the
time we've got something workable, Henry and I'll probably drag several
other people in.  David, you interested?"
   "Aye.  I need a quick way to escape when Elizabeth starts beating me."
   Elizabeth smacked him lightly and said, "You've not gotten a *real*
beating -- yet."
   After David and Elizabeth left, we cleaned up, cleaned up our bodies and
snuggled up in bed.  I told Bob, "By the way, my pill should be fully
effective now.  Think I should keep using the diaphragm?"
   "Janet said she uses both.  As long as it isn't causing you any issues,
I'd say keep it.  Or ask Ana or your GYN.  I haven't been able to pull it
out with my tongue yet, so it appears fairly stable.  On the other hand, I
haven't really *tried* to pull it out..."
   Jaysus he's fast!  In literally a second he had his face buried in my
beaver digging for gold.  I wasn't far behind; in three seconds I was
slicked up good.  So nice!
   Miss Clitty woke up ready for action.  Bob seduced her with his tongue
then caressed her gently for several minutes until several sweet quiet
releases had warmed us.
   "Get up here and in me, Sorcerer," I told him.  He slid up and in; we
rolled on our sides and made slow love for a half hour or so.
   "I love you, Sunshine.  You are the light of my life and my hope for
millennia."
   "And you're the Sorcerer of My Soul.  I love you, Righteous Bob."
   We let the bodies drift off to sleep while joined in love.
   We popped outside, set our body defenses and went exploring.  We looked
at several places with the idea in mind for teleportation safe -points.  We
looked mainly due east in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, with a good look
at the Appalachians.  If California slid into the ocean, it wouldn't do us
much good to port the bodies on top of a fault line!
   ------
   (Tuesday 3/7)
   Bob dragged me out of bed early!  "Since your ankle's fine, Sunshine, we
need to start running in the mornings.  It's about three weeks to the
Spring Dance, and we've both been slacking off the last couple months. 
Besides, we've gotta get Mary in shape too so she'll have enough strength
to beat off the boys."
   I groaned, moaned and complained but he remained disgustingly cheerful.
"Think how it'll be when we're both in top condition; we could ride two or
three tsunamis a day!"
   Now that's a thought to get me moving!
   I dragged Mary out of bed.  We stretched, warmed up and ran.  Just as we
expected, I didn't have much endurance; we only managed a half hour.
   We chatted as we held to a brisk walk.  Bob told Mary, "I'd advise you
to set up an automatic ear protection when you go to sleep at night.  Kat
and I tend to get a little noisy every once in a while."
   I told her, "The Sorcerer's Wand and magic mouth tend to do that to
girls.  Then there's the Rod of Chastisement if you've really been naughty.
Mary, I'm sure you'll find a way to be naughty so the Ceann will have to
take action."
   She smiled and told us, "I'll get with Lucia and figure out something.
Hopefully I'll be strong enough in a couple weeks."
   Mary got really tired, so Bob carried her pick-a-back the last several
blocks.  Mary grinned, worked her boobs around his back, wet down her panty
crotch and sighed.  I don't think she'll have any problem with guys.
   I dragged a bit in school but managed to get through the day without
falling asleep.
   ------
   SIOBHAN (Tuesday 3/7)
   Tuesday morning, Evin, the O'Banains and I quietly invaded JRD
Recording. We'd told the Executive Officer last week we'd be there, so
there weren't any surprises on their end.
   After one look around inside, I called Elizabeth Reynolds.  I told her,
"Help!  We need some minor miracles here.  The place is almost a dump and
needs a major make-over."
   She told me, "David and I are pretty much free today.  We're on the
way."
   We nosed into everything and questioned all the staff on what they did
and what changes they'd like to see.  Over 95% wanted the place brightened
up and made more appealing.
   Barbara found only one piece of fixed asset equipment missing from the
system printout but found it had been sold earlier that year.  No big deal.
   No processes, no procedures.  We decided to get the same fixed asset
team as we had in Vail as well as the same Business Process and
Documentation company.
   Aaron set up a simple Excel log for renting equipment to employees and
consultants.  He also created a simple rental agreement and set up a
General Ledger account for the income.  The insurance company agreed to
cover the rented equipment with only a slight adjustment in premium.
   David and Elizabeth showed up in thirty minutes.  They took a quick tour
and we talked.
   David said, "Barring a full structural engineer's inspection, the
structure's sound.  I'd just replace the fence outside entirely; looks like
it's fifteen years old at least, and isn't worth repairing.
   "Inside here, unless you need structural changes like walls or rooms,
it's mainly a matter of cleaning and decorating.  That area I'll leave up
to Elizabeth to design then we can give you an estimate.
   "Leave the parking lot 'til last; it'll get a lot of wear and tear
during the renos as well as the invariable paint spills.  I'd recommend
getting started ASAP on the sign and the outside design since that'll have
to be subcontracted.
   "I'll get a day-labor crew in here tomorrow to do a preliminary cleanup
outside and remove the fence.  We'll need to arrange for several day's
extra outside security while the fence is being redone but EverAlert should
be able to handle that.
   "While we're working inside, there'll be equipment stored outside in the
parking lot, so we should have extra security then, too.  In fact, you
might look at having EverAlert look at the entire security system and give
you an estimate on upgrading that, too.
   "You're probably gonna have artists in here worth millions, so they'll
be driving expensive cars and perhaps having some fans hanging around.  You
might look at having 24/7 security anyway, perhaps both inside and out.
   "I'll have one of my guys get the building plans from the county so
we'll have something to start with.  Hopefully they won't be too far out of
date."
   Elizabeth spent the rest of the day going around taking notes and
inspecting the actual condition.  She kept in touch with the rest of us on
what other changes the staff suggested and factored those into her ideas.
   Fortunately, the equipment all appeared to be in excellent condition so
we wouldn't have to replace any or get much more.  There were only a few
pieces of extra stuff they could use; we got a rough estimate of $15,000
for more microphones, cables and such.  I had the staff place the order for
those so we'd have them available when the place began filling up with
customers on different shifts.
   There was only one cleaning person for the entire building so it was no
wonder the place was dingy.  Hell, they could clean the toilets only twice
a week!  I held it as long as I could each time so I wouldn't have to pee
so often then didn't sit down, just bent over.  I contacted The Clean
Place, our JRD cleaning company and ordered two additional full-time
cleaners ASAP.
   The EO created a blanket Purchase Order for renovations, I authorized it
and he walked it through.  The local accountant cut a check to Reynolds
Construction for $30,000 as a retainer.
   Wednesday, David had a twenty-person day-labor crew in with a Reynolds
Construction foreman.  They had the fence down and the weeds and everything
under control by the end of the day.  At noon, they brought in two local
roach coaches and fed them all at company expense.  Everyone won on that
deal.
   ------
   PATRICK (Tuesday 3/7)
   Sherry, Mario, Cynthia, Valerie and I had a short meeting after school
Tuesday about mundane-family relationships.  Both Sherry's and Mario's
families were mundane like Cynthia's, so we picked their brains.
   Sherry told us, "The main thing is don't show off.  If Pat and Val
haven't already told you about the Clann, you'll find we're mainly
clandestine.  You can make all the waves you want with your intelligence,
but the abilities stay *way* below the radar."
   Mario said, "The last thing we want is to have these abilities widely
known by the mundanes.  If the various governments knew about them, they'd
probably do some serious thinking about kidnapping and laboratory
'research.' Legal?  Since when has any government worried about being
legal? Note this especially includes foreign governments; the U.S.  has a
lot of enemies who'd love to have control of someone with the abilities we
have."
   Sherry said, "Since I'm eighteen and Mario's nineteen, neither of our
families really worry about our relationship.  My family's known Bob for
years and highly approve of my relationship with him as part of the Inner
Circle and now of the Clann.  They immediately accept anyone I mention
being part of an Inner Circle, Brain Trust or the Clann.
   "One thing I'd recommend is you get Cynthia's family together with the
Adams and Merrills since they live right next to Pat and Val and have
children in the Inner Circle.  Go over the entire concept of the tutoring
groups at school and they'll probably end up supporting Cynthia's being
with you -- and us -- a lot."
   Mario told us, "A major thing parents worry about -- including ours --
is their kids 'hanging out' with good people.  When you show the Golds the
people Cynthia would be hanging with are not only 'good' but of the upper
echelon of ethics and academic ability, they'll probably have absolutely no
problem with Cynthia spending a lot of time with you, especially if it
deals with study or the Inner Circle stuff."
   Sherry's turn.  "As for a boyfriend or girlfriend relationship, if the
partner or partners are part of the Brain Trust, Inner Circle or the Clann,
within a couple weeks her folks would trust them entirely.  Cynthia's never
been in trouble in school or anywhere else, at least that she's been
responsible for, so they trust *her*.  Once they know her other partner is
trustworthy, I predict they'll have *no* issues.
   "Nowadays, at least in Southern California here, a gay or bi
relationship is acceptable.  You already know the Wild Bunch's
relationship; all their parents and the Clann accept and support it.  Of
course, it helped tremendously all the parents are ones of us.  The
students at Mickey C know too and none of them have the slightest thought
that it's weird or unusual.
   "My parents weren't aware of my relationship with Bob and Kat or with
Don and Ana.  That's something they didn't really need to know about and it
probably wouldn't concern them much if they did."
   Mario said, "We're not above _suggesting_ information or feelings to our
families.  Sherry and I _fed_ them a bit of our feelings for each other so
they knew we had partners they could trust.
   "We're not talking mind control or any crap like that.  We merely
_suggest_ information, usually completely true, so they can act on it.  For
example, since you're 'only' thirteen Cynthia, your parents want to know
where you're at all the time; it makes them feel very secure.
   "So ensure they have all the phone numbers where you could be and maybe
get a cell phone.  After you've called in every time you change places for
a week or so, you'll be able to _tell_ them both exactly where you are
without having to call them.  For example, tonight you told them you'd be
with Pat, Val and a couple other people from McCambridge.
   "After you leave here, you might go over to Pat's, Val's or Janet's
place; call and tell them where you are.  Next week, you could just _tell_
both of them lightly where you are; they'll then know it without even
bothering to remember you didn't actually call.  In fact, _tell_ Rita too.
That way, no one will have any attention on it."
   ------
   KATHLEEN (Tuesday evening 3/7)
   The JRD Owners had a quick meeting along with the O'Banains.  Aaron told
us the overview visit was going fine; so far it had been as expected with
no real surprises.
   Aaron said the main reason we got together this evening was about the
new owners: Sherry, Bob and me.
   "As owners, you three have access to virtually unlimited cash from JRD.
I want each of you to start a draw each month, and invest or save it
outside JRD.  Soon that should make you independent of anything that
happens and it keeps JRD from being so cash-heavy.  By cash, I mean liquid
assets like stocks and so forth as well as money in the bank.
   "Kat, you've all given me permission to talk about your financial
'situation' with the others here, so here goes.
   "Kat, you haven't taken peanuts out of here.  All you've been taking is
the $1,000 you've been paying the Matthews for room and board and putting
maybe a couple hundred a month on the debit card.  That's got to go up;
you're the majority owner if nothing else.
   "Bob, you've been pulling $1,000 for your and Kat's room and board to
your parents just because you could.  We've gotten you a debit card on the
company account and I've seen maybe $10 on it.  Sherry, you've done
suck-all; you've gotta start pulling cash, even if it's to give your
parents for room and board and finance a few wild nights on the town for
you and your honey.
   "Kat, you've got a *shit*-pot full of cash sitting in a trust account
from Jarlath and Ronnad's life insurance plus something like $190,000 in
their checking accounts you took over -- hell, you've only managed to spend
something like $7,000 on all your shopping sprees."
   Barbara put in, "You're gonna give us women a bad name!"
   Aaron continued, "The past 10 years, all four owners have been taking
monthly draws and investing it outside JRD.  Kat, Jarlath and Ronnad took
$50K a month between them and socked it away in outside investments. 
That's grown to about $11 million.  There will be some eating into that
because of death taxes etc.  but that's my problem.  You're worth on your
own, *without* JRD, probably around $13 million.
   "Kat, Evin didn't really lie when he told you JRD owned around $200K
plus liquid assets; it was a lawyer's answer.  True, what it has directly
in its name is around $200K but it indirectly controls a bit more.
   "JRD controls around $1,700 million as of last-year's balance sheet. 
Around $200 million of that is liquid.  If we start running out of cash, it
can always ask for some back.  This keeps the eggs separated out into
different baskets at least to some extent.
   "Evin and Siobhan are taking $20K a month draw.  Between them, they're
25% owners.  By proportion, Bob, you and Sherry need to take about $9K and
Kathleen, you need to take about $40K.  That's just for outside savings.
   "I expect you each to take a healthy draw for living expenses, too. 
Evin and Siobhan take $8,000, so I expect you three to take something at
least proportional whether or not you use it for living expenses.
   "Now down the line a little after we make a run through all the JRD
companies, you owners may want to consolidate, sell, expand, do whatever
with them.  In the meantime, it's bringing in several million a month gross
before taxes and expenses.  The only real expenses we have are the office
here, the cars and now the security consultants.  Not even peanuts.
   "You each need to look at ways to stay safe and liquid at the same time.
Bob, you need to take advantage of a company car, too, you're the only one
who hasn't.  That would still leave us with several available for things
like office use."
   Evin told us, "Thanks, Aaron.  Each of you should get with Aaron and
Barbara and work out an optimum plan.  They know several good investment
advisors who can help develop a good plan for you.
   "Now, on another subject, the Vail recovery is going very well.  Our
temporary QC, Operations and Shipping department heads seem to be doing
fine, so we might as well make their position permanent and get
recommendations on moving others up a notch.  The temporary CEO and CFO are
whipping things into shape pretty fast.  Next month, I'd recommend we start
shopping for permanent ones.
   "The fixed asset and business process teams are making excellent
progress.  They've got the asset inventory almost complete and are
finishing up installing a formal Fixed Assets system.
   "The Business Process and Documentation team will be there a while yet;
they have a hell of a lot of ground to cover.  Basically, Vail's been
running on an informal basis the last eight years with very few written
policies and only one or two small processes and procedures informally
documented.  As the Process team gets recommendations, they'll present them
to us for approval.  We'll see then how much more there is to do."
   ------
   ELIZABETH (Wednesday 3/8)
   The place wasn't quite a dump.  Yeh, lots of dust and neglect, but it
wasn't garbaged up like some places I'd worked on.
   The two new cleaning people showed up bright and early.  The first thing
Siobhan and I had them do was clean the toilets!  I wouldn't pull my pants
down in there unless my life depended on it -- and then I'd think about it
for a while like Jack Benny and his money.  I made sure they at least swept
the peeling paint off the walls as well as gave them a good disinfecting.
   I made up three different sign designs so the Owners could approve one.
They had a quick mental-meet at 1:00 and picked one.  I jobbed it out to
the small company we'd been using for years; we always got excellent
products and fast service.  One of their staff dropped by in the afternoon
to check out the mountings; we decided to go with an entirely new pole near
the front, so we had David's work crew dismantle the old one while they
were there.
   I made a ton of sketches and notes.  David was getting building plans,
and I expected to have them available in the afternoon.
   I "dined" at the roach coach and chatted in Spanish with the day-labor
crew.  Most were illegals, but I wasn't about to say anything.
   By the time I got back to the office, the building plans were there.  I
made several copies of the floor plans so I could start the design work.
   By what foresight I didn't know, but Mario had set me up with a User ID
on the JRD server.  I was able to pull off the JRD Recording customer
surveys and work several of their needs and wants into the designs as well
as getting the audit team's recommendations.
   I had our permit-puller start on permits for the outside renos for the
fence, parking lot re-do and the painting.  Papa Sonora's crew was
available tomorrow, so I arranged them to start the outside painting preps.
   I sent a copy of the plans to our architect to get them into his
electronic design system; we'd need city and county approval on several
things.  I already knew we needed at least two more bathrooms and a
security center, so the plans would need some work.
   I spent the rest of the afternoon planning color schemes, furniture and
fixtures.  I knew I'd spend Thursday doing the same thing so I could
present the overall design to JRD by Friday evening or Saturday.
   ------
   EVIN (Thursday 3/9)
   We spent the day doing the final interviews and inspections.  David and
Elizabeth were already going full-tilt at their part so we didn't concern
ourselves with that end.
   I contacted the fixed asset team and business processes companies and
got a preliminary okay from them and when they'd have teams available (next
week).  We cut the Purchase Orders, I authorized them, the local accountant
cut retainer checks and I FedExd them off.  Progress!
   So, we'd made a deep dent in the general operations ideas, the finance
make-over and a firm start on the renovations.  Now "all we had to do" was
get the sales and service up to pay for all this!  Never fear, we'd already
developed a devious plot for that.
   ------
   CYNTHIA (Thursday 3/9)
   Valerie, Pat and I had _inspected_ the entire faculty at school from
Monday on.  We gave Mrs.  Stroh a good solid one every time we saw her. 
She had decent Potential, and Bob had pointed out having the Counselors
ones of us was a tremendous help.  By Thursday, she was already remembering
and using some abilities during her interviews.  Looks like we may have a
winner here!
   We found several other students with Potential.  They spread across the
entire age, sex and grade range in the school.  We'd set up the tutoring
and people databases in Pat's room on his computer; with our transcription
technology, any of us could access or update it anytime.  If Pat's or Val's
parents happened across it, no big deal.
   We found out who was using the condom stash in the teacher's lounge. 
Miss Finney and Mr.  Stone were having a great fling; they were both
single, so no big deal.  Each had good Potential with some abilities
already manifesting; that's probably one reason they were together.
   They were practically living together outside of school; part of the
"fun" in their relationship was sex in semi-public places with a chance of
getting caught.  It wasn't interfering with their professional work at
school, so what the hell!
   We decided to keep giving them solid _inspections_ to help them build up
their abilities as much as they could.  They had enough Potential to be
ones of us.
   After our Tuesday meeting with Mario and Sherry, I made very sure to
keep my folks and Rita informed of exactly where I was.  They had no
problem with me being with Pat or Val.
   Thursday morning, I told P&V Sherry must have _hinted_ something to
Rita, because all Wednesday evening she was gushing on to our folks about
how good the Inner Circle and Brain Trust were at McCambridge.  She didn't
know Pat or Val, but just like guilt by association, they were good by
association.
   My memories flooded back, too; they were clear and covered millions of
years.  So far, Pat and Val seemed to have the most complete access their
pasts, but they told me I was doing damned good.
   They spent a couple hours Tuesday and Wednesday working with me on doing
probes and transcriptions.  I already knew my way around a computer pretty
good, so that was no issue; I practiced on my system at home at night when
everyone else was asleep.
   They briefed me on JRD and Kathleen's relationship to it (Big Gun! 
Honcho!) as well as Bob and Sherry and the work we did for it.
   They discussed the Clann Reynolds with me; what it was and did.  I was
*very* interested, "Sounds like my kind of folks."
   They let me in on the Clann customs they'd developed so far.  I wasn't
at all surprised Bob was the Ceann even though there were plenty of adults.
As for the sexual customs, with my new memories (and being full of puberty
hormones) I told them, "Winners.  You guys are winners.  I'm gonna get me
some of that."
   After a quick chat, Blake and Louise set up a dinner meeting with my
family.  Pat and Val chipped in with some of their Probe Patrol earnings,
and we gathered at Tony Roma's right after school on Thursday.
   P&V brought along Steven, Janet and Henry as well.  That way, the entire
four households in the complex were represented so my folks could meet the
ones I'd probably be spending a lot of time with.
   It went great.  Blake and Louise spent a lot of time going over exactly
what the tutoring group/Brain Trust/Inner Circle did at McCambridge and
what Val, Pat and I hoped to accomplish at our school.
   They knew where P&V's complex was since they drove through the alley
frequently, so they had a lot of comfort knowing I was close and they could
contact me pretty much any time.  We agreed we'd get me a cell phone and
just add it onto the Dermans' Cingular plan.  Couldn't beat it for $10 a
month.
   We talked about my grandparents.  They had just retired and were moving
down from the San Francisco area.  My dad said, "They're the ones you'll
really have to satisfy.  They haven't seen either of you for several years
and they'll probably want lots of time with you."
   Thursday evening, with Ana's and Henry's permissions, P&V showed me the
audit center at Henry's.  After some experimentation, I found I could run
three routine probes and transcriptions at the same time.  I said, "With
the three systems in the same room, you only have attention really on four
places at once.  No sweat, right?"
   Interesting!  Neither Pat nor Val could run two probes at once very
fast, while I found the main bottleneck was how fast the computer could
accept input.
   Chapter 28
   BOB (Saturday 3/11)
   The JRD Owners met with Madeleine MacKenna around 10:00 on Saturday. 
She's Siobhan's sister, has a Marketing degree, works in sales and we had a
proposal for her.
   Siobhan told her it was okay to bring her son Dermot along; he wouldn't
be any problem.
   Nice!  Here's this healthy 4-year-old male body with a powerful spirit
who remembers what and who he's been for a long time before.  Hmm, maybe we
can put *him* to work, too.
   He was formally polite when we introduced ourselves then asked,
"Kathleen, may I sit on your lap?  I love being around beautiful women."
   Kathleen laughed and told him, "Sure.  And I like handsome, clever men
like you." He promptly climbed aboard, snuggled his head between her
breasts and let the body nap.
   I told him, _"However, Dermot, Kat doesn't have breast milk so no matter
how hard you suck there won't be any for a while."_
   _"That's okay,"_ he replied, _"it's the thought that counts." Leer._
   We all laughed a good minute while Kat snuggled him in close.  _"Just
don't get my silk blouse too wet."_
   Madeleine told us, _"He doesn't usually drool...  when he's asleep.  I
guess you'll find out what happens when he's awake."_ Grin.
   Okay then.  Down to the business at hand.  Evin had them sign JRD
non-disclosure agreements; Dermot scrawled something that looked like his
name.  "I've never thought to practice writing yet.  The body's still
pretty uncoordinated."
   "Madeleine, are you aware of the JRD company structure?"
   "Pretty much.  Just being around Evin and Siobhan, some has rubbed off.
It's a majority stockholder or full owner for a lot of sub-companies;
twenty-something as I recall."
   "Right.  Twenty-eight to be exact.  Has Evin or Siobhan filled you in on
how Jarlath and Ronnad died last year?"
   "Oh, yes!  Nasty business.  I knew them for years, too.  Shi told me you
nailed the guy who did it."
   Sherry asked her, "Did she tell you how we did it?"
   "Not exactly, only that he's probably headed for a life-changing
injection."
   We filled her in on probes, dossier-gathering and ramontheeye.  She was
very interested.  "Sounds as if you've got a good thing there.  I'd guess
the way you collect it, the data is as good as the source believes or knows
it is, right?"
   "Yes.  Objective stuff like cipher keys, passwords, specific locations
and so on, we pretty much give a 98% credibility.  The rest varies and we
may check it out further.
   "Basically, at Vail we ran a sting operation; Kat and I went in, played
a bimbo and buffoon, and the target swallowed everything.  He sang like a
canary to save his butt and is still singing.  We've recovered around $75
million so far and more is coming out of the woodwork.  JRD gets about $5
million of that so far, so we're happy campers.
   "Now, has she told you about Kathleen Sunshine here?"
   Madeleine told us, "Yes.  Definitely impressive."
   Dermot said, _"I like this Kathleen a lot better.  She smells really
good and is packing ten pounds in her shilling."_
   Evin said, "I like this one a lot better, too.  Anyway, the fact she's
not the 'original' Kathleen makes JRD's future one hell of a lot brighter.
She brought in Bob and Sherry, and they've worked out tremendously well. 
Several of their gang spotted the outpoints at Vail, and Bob spotted the
problem area in ten minute's discussion.  That lead to the recovery we're
doing now.
   "Vail brings in around $50 million a year to JRD, once we adjust for the
crap that's been going on.  We're doing some changes there to get it
running smoothly and hopefully even more profitable.  Sherry, would you
tell her about JRD Recording?"
   Sherry told her, "For the past five years or so, Jarlath, Ronnad, Evin
and Siobhan let JRD and the companies run pretty much on their own.  This
is *not* to belittle them or make it seem in any way they were derelict or
slacking off.  They were concentrating on getting their kids through
puberty and up to where they could take care of themselves."
   Kathleen put in, "And handling Kathleen the brick was a more than
full-time job in and of itself."
   Sherry continued, "Right.  They might have been able to spot the events
at Vail earlier, but that's like saying the Feds should have been
completely aware of and stopped 9-11 before it happened.  Hindsight is
always better.
   "No shame, blame or regret.  Anyway, when Kathleen Sunshine brought Bob
and me aboard, JRD suddenly got some tremendously-powerful allies and
assets with several of our school friends.  There's twenty-eight companies
here and it's damned difficult for six people to watch over them all
properly.
   "The first thing we did was to have seven of our colleagues take a fast
look at all the books.  A couple of them spotted the Vail situation; we ran
a full probe on everyone and are now in the process of recovering it.
   "Now that it's heading back to normal operations, we're going to look at
*all* the companies.  We're planning on two a month for right now.  Our
audit team will scrutinize their books, we'll run probes and take any
corrective action we find necessary.
   "We picked JRD Recording for a couple reasons.  It's close and it's been
showing a low profit margin around 4%.  The audit, probes and on-site
inspections found nothing criminal or negligent; mainly the available
facilities are being very under-utilized.  Evin, Siobhan, Aaron and Barbara
spent a couple days there on an oversight visit and we've already begun
some corrective actions.
   "From the scheduling alone we figure the facilities are only being 10%
utilized.  The place physically is unattractive and badly maintained.  It
has a very low repeat-business rate and new customers have stayed the same
over the past five years.
   "The customers approve of the product they get, so the actual competence
of the staff is fine.  We're going to drop, say, $100K in renovations and
cleanup, increase the customer service significantly and significantly
increase the promotion and sales to attract new customers and get the
repeat-business rate up."
   Dermot woke up, looked over at Sherry and raised his eyebrows in
question.  Sherry told him, "Sure, come on over.  I can use some
snuggling."
   Kat helped him down.  Climbing up on Sherry's lap, he snuggled into her
bosom.  "You smell wonderful, Sherry," he grinned at her.
   She laughed.  "Flirt!  You're going to have every woman around wrapped
around your little finger."
   "I doubt that; my little finger isn't big enough.  I'm just a cute
little boy who doesn't give anyone any problems."
   Siobhan laughed now.  "Yeh, right.  You just use that to get snuggled
up."
   Dermot laughed.  "Well, it works, doesn't it?" He took a deep,
appreciative breath of Sherry-fragrance, nuzzled her breasts and said,
"Wonderful!"
   Sherry rolled her eyes, grabbed his head lightly and gave it a good
titty-rub.  "Happy now?"
   "It's a great start!" he told her, "Just because the body's too young to
respond and be appreciative doesn't mean the engine isn't running just
fine."
   I told Madeleine, "All of which brings us to why we're talking with you
now.  We've got a proposal for you.
   "JRD Recording needs professional marketing and sales direction.  Aaron
and Barbara can handle accounting and tax issues, Evin can handle any legal
stuff while Kathleen, Sherry and I are mainly rabble-rousers.  We need a
full-time manager to handle all the sales and marketing areas.
   "We're talking with you first for several reasons.  A) You're long-time
family.  Nepotism?  You betcha!  That gives us a loyalty in and of itself
that can't be bought.
   "B) You've got a Marketing degree and years of actual sales experience.
   "C) You're one of us.  With your remembered abilities and the additional
training we'll offer you -- which, by the way, is available to you and
Dermot whether or not you accept the position -- no one's gonna be able to
bull-shit you.
   "D) We think we can offer you something you can't get anywhere else;
that's a management position working with other managers who are *all* ones
of us.
   "At the office here, over 80% of the people are at least Sensitives. 
The remaining 20% are good people, but we'll probably quietly move them
off, perhaps to one of our sub-companies.  That way, we *know* JRD is clean
and competent.  Sound good so far?"
   Dermot said, _"*I'm* listening."_
   Madeleine laughed, "Sounds almost too good to be true and I haven't
heard any details yet."
   Kat picked it up, "Okay, here's the offer.  The position will be JRD
General Sales Manager.  You'll have full responsibility and control of all
the sales, customer service and promotional departments or areas of every
JRD sub-company.  JRD owns Fillmore Sales Relations in Sherman Oaks; I'd
recommend you use them for the grunt work like design and actual
production. The local company will have a say in what goes on, but you'll
have the final approval authority.
   "As a manager, we don't expect you to *do* the sales and so forth.  We
do want you to ensure the areas are properly staffed, doing proper
promotion, treating customers correctly and are doing good sales
presentations and follow up.  It's up to you how much time you put in and
where.
   "Let's talk dollars now.  From what Siobhan leaked to me, you pay about
$225 in child care every week for Dermot.  Off the top of my head, I'd say
you could spend at least 50% of your time here at the office rather than
on-site.
   "When you're here, Dermot is more than welcome to be here.  Since he's
one of us, he's trustworthy and the only 'hassle' he'd be would be due to
his body age.  Dermot, what do you think of day care?"
   _"Before I started remembering, it was actually pretty decent.  The
center workers are friendly, the other kids get along fine and the
facilities are decent.  Now, however, it's pretty boring; there's no one
really to talk with and not much I really like to do."_
   Madeleine said, "I though it would be that way and haven't come up with
a solution yet.  This could be it."
   Sherry said, "And if you're on-site, depending where and for how long, I
see no reason Dermot couldn't be with you if he's interested.  If it's not
feasible to take him along, we've got *lots* of families who'd be delighted
for him to 'camp out' with them.  After all, being one of us has some
tremendous advantages."
   Kathleen continued, "So with that in mind, you could save about $11,000
a year in child care alone.  Give the families he's camping with $5 or $10
a day to feed the body and everything's covered.
   "Being in sales, you know commission work is feast or famine.  Bob's
used to that himself.  What we offer is $35,000 a year base salary and a
sliding scale of bonuses based on sales increases in the various
sub-companies."
   We talked about the sliding-scale bonuses a while; the more she
increased the sales and profits, the higher her percentage went.
   "We've got 28 companies right now.  That's a *lot* to handle directly.
We may eventually consolidate under JRD sub-managers, such as by industry
or region, but we might decide simply to sell some off.
   "It might be to our advantage to get the company quite profitable first
so it brings a better price, but that'll be on a case by case basis.
   "If JRD creates a new company from scratch, you'd set up the appropriate
departments.  In that case, the base-line profit is zero, so you'd be in on
the ground floor.
   "Last but not least, you'll be part of the decision-making management.
While only the Owners vote, we always have the O'Banains in on the
discussions.  You'll be part of that process too.  The O'Banains aren't
here today because we've already made the decision to find a good manager;
of course, you're welcome to talk with them all you wish.
   "Questions so far?"
   We talked over several scenarios and decided she'd get paid her base
salary every two weeks, just as the O'Banains do.  Bonuses would be paid
quarterly and final adjustments for the yearly basis would be done
annually.
   Evin said, "Mad, we won't accept a decision from you today.  First, we
want you *and* Dermot to meet Clann Reynolds on Monday evening; the audit
team and the security probers are all part of the Clann as are we.  They're
the rest of the environment you'll be working in, so we want you fully
aware of the rest of the people.
   "If you've got time tomorrow, one of us will train you two on doing
probes and transcriptions and anything else we know about how a free spirit
operates.  Then Tuesday you should sit in on the Probe Patrol and get some
experience.  Also on Tuesday I want you here in the office to meet the
people here.  Between those things, you should know what you're getting
into."
   No problem.  She and Siobhan agreed to get together early Sunday
afternoon.  Dermot was more than willing to learn new stuff and to be part
of the operation.
   ------
   BOB (Monday 3/13)
   JRD Recording was doing just fine.  Reynolds Construction had a good
handle on the renos and if Madeleine accepted the position, we had a good
start on improving its financial condition.  Me?  I just worked as a JRD
Owner and didn't try any micro-managing.  Father and Mother had an
occasional question which the Owners handled together if needed.
   Everyone showed for the Clann meeting Monday night.  Pat and Val brought
Cynthia and Madeleine showed up with Dermot.
   The new people were immediate hits with the rest of the Clann.  All
three were powerful, competent spirits already trained in full outside
operations, firewalls and probes.
   Dermot was great.  His four-year-old body was cute, under his control
and he could talk and _talk_.  Every female gave him a hug; he'd do his
best to snuggle into their bosoms and flirt with them.
   Cynthia told him, "You and I'd better hang together tonight.  We've got
the smallest bodies around and might get trampled." She was a few inches
over four feet herself and Dermot was maybe two and a half.
   Dermot grinned at her.  "I agree.  We need a mutual protection
association here while people get use to us.  Not that I mind being shorter
than you..." He licked his lips and admired her breasts which were right at
his eye level.
   Cynthia laughed, "Shit, guy, you're dangerous.  Okay stud, give me a
good hug and check 'em out!"
   He did.  "Scrumptious!"
   Cynthia laughed more.  "Except for medical exams, you're the first
person to touch them with permission since they started growing; they liked
it just fine!  Were you a Don Juan before?"
   "Not that I know of.  However since I'm getting an early education this
lifetime, who knows?"
   Don gave us an update on the teleportation research.  "Bob and Kathleen
started it out.  Yes, we can teleport objects with a fairly simple
*decision*.  However, that's not the real issue." He gave us a brief
"teacher" lecture on angular momentum and the effect it had on
teleportation.
   "For you old-time sci-fi fans, E.E.  Doc Smith talked about something
extremely similar in his Lensmen series.  They developed a technology to
temporarily suspend matter's inertia due to its mass; they called it
'intrinsic velocity,' which is good enough for me.
   "They had the same issues as we're finding, even if it was fiction. 
North and South have intrinsic velocity differences as well as straight
altitude.  Henry and I have teleported objects between here and the Moon
and back and found another set of intrinsic velocity differences.
   "We've spent several evenings on this and have come up with at least
something.  First, since we're removing air at the source and displacing it
or whatever else at the destination, it takes about a second for the whole
cycle.  If the destination is air and we don't take it into account, the
air and the object suddenly share the same space, which can lead to some
interesting results.  Henry will demonstrate."
   Henry told us, "Here's a small watermelon.  Nothing fancy but actually
fairly fragile.  Everyone take a quick _look_ inside and note it's just
like every other watermelon you've ever seen.
   "Now I'll port it to the back yard here which will have a negligible
intrinsic velocity difference.  Here's the destination; put some attention
on it." He pointed out a small bare spot in the grass.
   "Here goes." He ported it to the spot.  The watermelon promptly
disappeared from the table with a pop and appeared in the back yard where
it shook and swelled up.  Several cracks immediately appeared.
   "If you look inside now, you'll find it's pretty pulped up.  The air
ruptured pretty much every cell so it's mush.  That wouldn't be a pretty
sight if it were a human body, would it?
   He picked up the destroyed melon with a _touch_ and dropped it in the
trash.  "Remember the little pop in here at the source?  That was the air
rushing in to the vacuum where the melon was.  So, to do a clean port, I'll
hold back the air at the source with a standard _touch_ and let it collapse
gradually after the melon's gone.
   "At the destination, before the port, I'll push back the air to the same
shape as the melon.  The melon will port into the vacuum there and I'll let
the shape gradually collapse onto it.  Okay, here's another melon..."
   This time, no noise.  "I took about a second total this time, a
half-second on each end.  Much less time than that, we still get noise. 
Let's try a few peaches."
   He showed us varying times for source and destination.  At much less
than half a second, there was some noise.
   "Sometimes we won't care if there's noise but if we make a habit of
doing it quietly, it's just as easy as not doing it.  The major point is
that there'd better be a vacuum at the destination or the object will get
hammered.  A spongy something might be able to take it as might a small
solid object but there will be damage.
   "As an example, here's two BBs.  While small, they're solid steel. 
Let's see what happens if they end up together.  Here's one to the back
yard..." He ported one out back and ensured everyone _saw_ where it was.
   "Now I'll port the other one right into the same space..."
   There was a loud crack from outside and there was suddenly a hole a foot
across and deep in the ground.
   Don said, "We cheated on that.  While a teleport can be instantaneous
for all practical purposes since it's a decision, we slowed this one down
so the second BB took a couple milliseconds to form within the other one.
Again that's part of the *decision*.  We don't know how it works but it
does.
   "The first time Henry and I tried it we were fortunately very
suspicious. We put one BB way up in the hills east of here and ported the
other one into it.  It blew a hole in the ground something like 200 feet
across.  As near as we can tell, both objects were atomized or at least
molecularized.  That is to say, they broke all the molecular or ionic bonds
at once, perhaps even some of the atomic bonds.  The energy stored in those
bonds released all at once.  Blammo!
   "So, the first moral is just like it is in target shooting: be aware of
your target.  Now let's talk about intrinsic velocity.  If there's less
angular momentum at the destination, there will be a net inertia going
east. More intrinsic velocity, the inertia is west.
   "To keep the object still at the destination, we may have to add or
subtract actual physical-universe energy to it.  This isn't the spiritual
power we associate with P&V or Janet but the physical energy we generate
with a _touch_.
   "We found we've got a pretty-much infinite supply of energy available to
add and a pretty-much infinite sink to subtract.  All we have to do is mock
it up; to add energy just requires two terminals like a battery.  To sink
it requires two terminals to charge up or simply let it radiate into space
somewhere, maybe in the Sun.
   "The trick is how much to add or subtract, in what directions and how.
First, any energy has to be added or removed on the molecular level or to
the atoms themselves.  Anything less fine than that results in damage.
   "I was a bit apprehensive at first and thought we'd have to do the
actual energy calculations with many variables and estimations. 
Thankfully, it turns out not to be necessary."
   Henry asked, "Bob, would you give me a thumb-and-forefinger circle,
please?"
   I made him a circle; Henry reached his hand out and poked his forefinger
through it.  "Pretty simple, huh?  Actually, there's a whole lot of
estimating, feedback and correction going on.  First, I had to estimate the
direction and distance then start my hand towards it.  As I got closer, I
got the perception feedback and adjusted both directions and speed.  The
closer I got, the more often the feed back and the finer the corrections
required.  _Link_ with me a little and I'll try to show you."
   Yeh, we could see that.
   Henry said, "Thanks, Bob.  Now when we port something, we can perceive
there's a need to add or remove energy, just as I got an initial estimate
of direction and distance.  Don and I found if we took a few milliseconds
to do the port, we could get feedback and refine the energy we were adding
and or removing.  Let's take this peach and port it to Angeles Crest with
no angular momentum correction."
   The peach appeared 25 miles north and promptly took off to the west
where it smacked into a rock and squished.
   "That would be a good ouch on a body, no?  Let's slow the port down, get
feed back and bleed off or add energy as needed."
   This time, the peach appeared and hung in the air.  "I added a little
altitude and left a bit of _touch_ underneath so I wouldn't have to be
concerned about interfacing with the soil.  Note I bled off the energy, so
it ended up with the same angular momentum with the surroundings.  If I
split it now, the insides look totally fine.
   "I bled the energy off and just let it dissipate about a thousand miles
above the North Pole.  If I went around thirty degrees north or south of
the Equator, I might accidentally bleed the energy into a satellite or
something.  Oops!  Let's do a peach south to Honduras, which requires an
energy addition."
   Yep.  It popped into place and hung motionless an inch above the ground.
   "Now, something solid to the Moon, which has another set of angular
momentums: that of the Moon, that of the Earth and the differences.  Here's
the target...  here's a brick from the back yard...  and off we go."
And there it was.  Don summarized, "This will take practice.  The
watermelons and peaches were living objects.  We'll get some laboratory
mice in, work with them and see what happens.
   "The more fragile the object, the longer it will take to port without
damage.  Living organisms are fragile.  By 'longer,' it's probably going to
be a matter of milliseconds, not seconds but there's going to be a
difference.
   "We've got an awesome source of highly-destructive power here by porting
solids into solids, so this isn't all fun and games; we've got the
responsibility to go along with the power.
   "There's 35 of us here tonight.  Bob, Kat, Henry and I have demonstrated
the ability to teleport something.  That's about 12%.  After Henry and I
work with living stuff more next week we'll have a further report then
we'll probably start working with you individually to see if it's an
ability limited to just a few.
   "So far, we haven't found an ability that's limited to only some of us.
All of us can do everything everyone else can do.  Some are better at some
things, others have more power, others might have unique abilities.  I have
no reason to believe the teleportation ability is limited.
   "Now a final word of caution.  If and when we are able to teleport a
human body, we'll be taking its life in our minds.  There'll probably
always be some degree of risk.  I recommend none of you try it until we've
got most of the spectrum worked out and develop the best training method."
   Kathleen talked a little next.  "Okay guys, the JRD Recording went
excellently.  We've got stuff going on to improve things down there as we
speak.
   "Our next target is EverAlert Security.  Today, Mario gathered all the
stuff together in the directory 'EAS' so the audit team can start looking
it over any time they want.
   "We figured JRD Recording was an easy one from the beginning.  Others
may not be, so we'll just see how it goes.  We may have to slide the
schedule if something turns up that needs handling on EverAlert.  Two weeks
was just enough to get JRD Recording on the road to where we want it.
   "By the time we go through half a dozen companies, we'll have a lot
going on all at once.  In fact, we may even have to bring some other
project managers aboard to cover them; the owners alone won't be able to
handle it all.
   "Anyway, good on ya, guys.  You did great and I know you'll continue to
do the same."
   Chapter 29
   SIOBHAN (Tuesday 3/14)
   Madeleine and Dermot spent the morning at Ana's.  She teamed up with
Mama Sonora and Ana took Dermot on a couple runs then turned them loose on
a couple of their own.  Ana told me later they did great!
   Ana explained to them the different type of probes they were doing, like
the volunteer ones for Unpleasantville, fallout from Vail, the JRD-based
ones and the Clann work.  Who got paid for what and how much.
   "You two are good," she told them.  "Madeleine, I understand JRD might
offer you a position with them, but in any case, there's probably a place
for you here doing some of this work.
   "Dermot, if you're interested and your mom says it's okay, you can do
this stuff too.  One of the best parts of the entire thing is you can do it
from pretty much anywhere.  About the only requirement is you've got a
place where your body won't be disturbed; most of us are fully outside and
have 99% of our attention on what we're doing, so trying to look after a
body at the same time in a public place isn't advisable."
   Dermot was interested.  "Mom, even if you don't go with JRD, this is
something either of us could do at night from home.  If you are at JRD at
the office, I can always put the body on the sofa or overnight room for an
hour or so during the day."
   Madeleine told him, "You're right.  We've got the JRD office this
afternoon, and we'll be making a decision by the end of the day.  So stir
your lazy bones and let's be off!"
   They met me at a restaurant by the JRD office and we had lunch.  We
chatted away about the Probe Patrol and how much of a business advantage it
gave us.  "We've not done any industrial espionage exactly.  Pat snuck a
peek at some companies similar to JRD Recording to see what they were
spending on advertising and promotion, but we don't ever intend to do much
more that that.  We don't have to."
   I gave them the full office tour.  Mario was leaned back in his chair,
totally relaxed with his eyes closed.  I told Mad, "He's out at the audit
center doing a quick readiness check so the crew can start EverAlert
tonight.  It's a definite advantage not to have to go there physically."
   I showed her the lounge and the overnight room with the bed and shower.
"We've pulled overnighters before, and it helps to sack out for a few
hours. Then again, we'd occasionally use it for fun and games.  The
cleaning crew checks it every day and restocks as needed.
   "Dermot, if you're here and your body gets tired, it's available.  If
either of you decide to do some probe work during the day, it's available."
   We had several available offices, and I told her she could pick one or
work out in the main room; anything that suited her.
   I told the entire office, "Guys, this is Madeleine and Dermot; some of
you've met them already.  She's considering coming aboard as the JRD
General Sales Manager.  They'll be here this afternoon, so give them your
full cooperation and answer any of their questions.  Don't let Dermot's
apparent age fool you girls, he'll flirt with you, mean it and be able to
back it up with action."
   Madeleine walked around talking with every person for a few minutes. 
Dermot dashed around (he's got 4-year-old energy) quietly, flirted with all
the women but didn't interfere with what they were doing.
   By the end of the afternoon, they'd talked with everyone and seen
everything but the audit center at the Merrills'.  They'd chatted,
_inspected_ and _talked_, asked the right questions and in general found
out almost everything.
   An hour before the office normally closed, I handed her two sheets of
paper.  "You and Dermot read over these.  They're the Clann workings for
membership and stuff.  The green sheet, you hand back to me; it's the
customs we've set up.  Neither of you is to discuss the green sheet with
anyone outside the Clann.  The Clann extends an invitation to you both to
join us; working here at JRD is not a membership prerequisite, and being a
Clann member is not a prerequisite to working here.
   "As you've noticed, besides Mario, we've got several people here who are
Sensitives and two who could be ones of us.  We haven't pushed the Clann on
them, mainly because they've got really busy lives outside JRD and in a
couple cases, we don't consider they're ethically or ability-wise up to
membership.  They're not bad people, just not up to our standards."
   Evin and I took them out to dinner.  Dermot said, "I'd say the Clann
people are very wise to get all that out in the open.  Any of the extended
families or group marriages I've been in always seemed to have a fair
number of must-dos or must-nots with no one seeming to know why."
   Mad remarked, "Clever and pretty much covers everything."
   Evin did a trial close, "Mad, Dermot, what do you like best about JRD?"
   They _talked_ a few seconds then said, "Never mind the close.  We're
in."
   I said, "Great!  Mad, stop by Barbara's office tomorrow with your
passport and we'll do the legal crap.  Of course, Dermot, you may come
along."
   Evin told her, "You two should make a run over to the audit center even
tonight.  That's the last of our operations area and you can see what they
do.  Most of the guys can extract data from a stone and you might have
several reports you want to look at during the analysis."
   Dermot said, "We're both very interested in being Clann members.  Is
that invitation still open?"
   We told them, "You betcha!  Welcome to an interesting life."
   We chatted and ate for another then minutes or so.  As we were walking
out, I hugged her and said, "So *glad* you're with us."
   I told her, _"We're gonna have to hold our own celebration sometime.  If
Evin plays his cards right and you're interested, maybe he can be part of
it."_
   I _felt_ her nipples pop up.  _"Hmm.  That could be *very* interesting.
I've had my eye on *his* ass for a while, too."_
   ------
   VALERIE (Tuesday 3/14)
   Right after school, Cynthia, Pat and I went to my place to update our
databases and to do some more plotting and planning.  After we'd done the
updates and discussed several of the students as potential tutors or
resources, we got onto other things.  We got laid back on my sofa in a
Cynthia sandwich and talked; you know, of shoes and ships and sealing-wax
-- of cabbages and kings.
   I asked her, "Cynthia, now you've met the Clann, what do you like most
about it?"
   She thought for a second then said, "The enthusiasm.  They're all
interested in what the Clann's doing, in their work and in their lives. 
I've never been around a group that's so consistently 'high' on life
itself.
   "It's not an artificial high, either.  We've been to the school pep
rallies; they're fun, we get up, but it doesn't last.  Enthusiasm and
action come from within and every one of the Clann oozes it."
   Pat said, "Great!  For Val and me, they're the first people we've
*wanted* to be around.  We've always been pretty much loners, but that
changed pretty quickly.
   "Cynthia, we invite you to become a member of Clann Reynolds if you're
interested."
   She smiled and the sun shone!  "What about Bob, after the stuff I pulled
on him?"
   "Especially Bob.  Besides admiring your beauty, he admires the way you
stood up to him and gave him shit right back.  You're well above our
minimum criteria for ethics, you've got excellent abilities, and you're
outgoing and friendly.  You're a winner, honey, a true star and we see that
in you."
   She smiled again and told us, "In that case, I accept with pleasure; I
feel honored for the invitation.  What's the next step, some initiation?"
   We laughed.  Pat cocked an eyebrow and gave her a salacious grin. 
"Maybe we'll have our own private initiation."
   Cynthia laughed and bounced up and down; her suddenly-hard nipples and
tight boobs bounced very nicely too!  "Ooo!  Now?"
   I got my two bits in, "Not right now.  Actually, we're semi-joking about
that; there's no initiation, we'll just announce your membership at the
next meeting, and you'll get all the hugs, spirit-hugs and _kisses_ you can
handle.
   "The next step is to file your blood tests with Ana.  You have any?"
   She told us, "Mom may be mundane but she's no dummy.  Rita's been
getting tests for five years now, and I have one from my last exam when
these bumps started growing several months ago."
   "Good.  Let's fax a copy to Ana.  How about birth control?"
   "Neither of us have any.  That's an oops, right?"
   "Most of us think so.  Rita's fifteen, very nice, very pretty, a
Sensitive and in a school environment filled with extremely nice young men
-- and women.  While she might not be *planning* on bumping pubes, she
should have it.
   "Same with you, Cynthia.  The Clann's custom of consensual sex only and
the fact you now carry around an extremely effective body defense protects
you from coercion or rape.  On the other hand, you may find someone in the
next several hours you're extremely interested in and be ready *right
then*!
   "Bellana, for example, met Henry and Janet in the morning, and they were
having *very* consensual intercourse that afternoon.  Things can happen
that fast.  Pat and I were boyfriend/girlfriend for years; we knew we
weren't completely ready for the sexual aspect for whatever reason."
   Pat told her, "That changed in ten seconds.  The Fearsome Five pumped
enough spirit energy into us to enable us to remember, and suddenly we were
outside and _merging_.  Remember that joy-blast several weeks ago?"
   She said, "Oh, yeh!  There was that sex bomb last year too.  The odd
things began happening with me right after that.  After the joy-blast was
when I really started 'hearing' things.  You know what those were?"
   We broke up for a minute.  Pat told her, "That sex bomb was Henry and
Janet.  They got into a positive feedback loop and with their combined
power...  there it went.
   "That joy-blast was Val and me.  We had no control, had just discovered
ourselves as spirits and were totally in love.  Fortunately the Wild Bunch
was right next door and sent the Love Police over.
   "While it may sound cold-blooded, we recommend a slower approach to the
whole thing.  Those two events are the reason we train new people right
away on firewalls and stuff.
   "Anyway, there were Pat and me.  We were getting it on in one hell of a
hurry, no idea what we were doing or where we were going.  We were totally
overwhelmed by events.  If the Love Police hadn't pounded on the door, we
probably would have been having unprotected intercourse in another ten
minutes.  No birth control whatsoever, not even to think about fuckus
interruptus.  *And* I happened to be at my most fertile time and wouldn't
have given a good God-damn; I probably would have begged him to get me
pregnant.  It can happen that fast, so we want everyone to be prepared.
   "Fortunately, Henry gave us a couple dozen condoms from when their folks
knew they were interested in each other.  They lasted a couple days.
   "Tell you what; let's get Louise to make a talk with your mom.  She's
really good; she got our folks' agreement for tests and my birth control
even before they were anywhere near ones of us.  That way you'll be
prepared for any event.  Condoms are 'okay,' but are a pain in the butt to
remember.  Make sense?"
   She told us, "All kinds of sense.  I don't know what kind of
relationship I'm looking for; all I know right now is I'm horny all the
time.  I even drooled over Dermot last night, especially after he nuzzled
my boobs."
   I laughed at her.  "I know; I think he's a wonderful spirit in a young
body.  Pat's and my opinion is it's the spirit that's attracted first along
with the sexual orientation.  We think there may be some sort of
spirit-gender going on.  About 95% of the times I remember, I've had a
female body.  Pat's been male 95%.  Even as a female, though, I've had
times when I've been anywhere from completely lesbian to stridently hetro.
Same with Pat as a male."
   Pat said, "Some of it was probably because of the environment too.  If I
were in an army of men for years, I'd have some male-male relations.  There
were quite a few times I was solidly gay, but most of the time it was a
tolerance rather than a strong desire."
   Cynthia grinned.  "Yeh.  I remember pretty much the same.  Right here
and now, I don't know what my preferences are." Her eyes unfocused for a
few moments.
   "Well, I can imagine myself making love with every Clann guy from Dermot
to Donal Brady with lots of interest." She wiggled her eyebrows at me.  "On
the other hand, I can also imagine the same with all the ladies, too.  I
just don't know."
   Pat though a second.  "I have an idea."
   _"Janet, it's Pat, Val and Cynthia.  Do you have a couple seconds to
fill us in on the Butterfly Game?"_
   She did.  In several seconds she filled us in on the fun-and-games. 
_"We had the last one at the Donovan's pool.  It was fun, extremely
educational, but probably was as large a group we should get into; the
logistics were getting a bit hairy.  It's probably better with smaller
groups where everyone has more time and can get, let us say, more involved.
There's a lot of love among the group; it's not just sex for sex's sake."_
   She filled us in on the first Butterfly Game with the Fearsome Five. 
_"Much bigger than that, it gets a touch contrived and awkward.  However,
in your case, we'll try it with six -- the Wild Bunch and you three; you
wanna schedule something?" Heavy fake leer._
   _"Not right now, wild lady.  We're just checking out options for our new
friend here.  Cynthia's accepted our Clann invitation,"_ I told her.
   Janet got a bit more serious, _"Welcome to the game of life, Cynthia! 
May your joys be frequent and even your lows be high."_
   Cynthia told her, _"Thanks, Janet.  You can guess how much I appreciate
finding such wonderful people.  Who knows where I'll end up."_
   We broke off and went on to some other things.  Pat told her, "You're
probably as aware of the current Clann relationships as we are; the
families and other committed relationships.  Among the 'kids,' including
the Mickey C Seniors, the oldest relationship is Bob and Sunshine starting
in late November last year.  Val and I are the youngest at just about six
weeks.  Mary Shinto's brand new and isn't in a relationship.
   "Frank and Thelma are the newest adults followed by Blake and Louise who
starting in early December, while Donal and Aileen Brady have been together
over thirty years.  We kids are in very new relationships and are still
settling in.
   "We agreed on our Clann sexual customs at the end of February, two weeks
ago.  Since then, I haven't heard of any wild orgies or any other
cross-relationship goings-ons.  The adults will probably play around more
than the kids for a while.  While especially the Wild Bunch will joke
around a lot, we kids have such new relationships we tend to be a lot more
cautious and want to get them really solid before branching out much.
   "Granted, that won't preclude Butterfly Games and such but even with the
extremely wide latitude our customs permit I doubt we'll do much more than
that for a while."
   Cynthia observed, "Sound like this entire thing's on a wild sleigh ride;
hopefully not a runaway train."
   I agreed, "Yep.  Almost every day we're discovering new technologies,
developing old ones more and gaining members.  Three potential new members
last night, teleportation, better firewalls and probes, body defenses, all
that.  The fact you can handle three probes and transcriptions at once is a
completely new development; none of the rest of us had even thought to try
more than one; we started out with a prober and a transcriber."
   Pat said, "One hell of a ride.  We're hangin' on tight; it'll probably
get even wilder."
   Cynthia said, "And Bob keeps it all going, yes?"
   I said, "Pretty much.  As Ceann, he doesn't get involved in much real
detail work; he coordinates and manages.  He was the one who brought up the
need for firewalls and probes.  He brought up body defenses.  Pat just
happened to be the one to bring up teleportation, and that was part of the
discussion on body defenses.
   "That's one reason they elected him.  His foremost concern now is the
safety and security of the Clann.  He and Kat always have that as their
most important item with their eyes on the far future.  They plan globally
and act locally.
   "If it came down to a question of the Clann versus JRD, I'd think the
Clann would win.  Kathleen's the JRD majority owner, but the other owners
recognize the Clann's more important in many ways.
   Pat said, "Yes.  He's the 'One Who Must Be Obeyed.' We weren't in on the
preliminary discussions but know he will always strive to find an optimum
survival route for everyone, including the Clann.
   "Now, speaking of JRD, would you be interested in doing security work?
Basically it's doing probes on JRD companies while it's getting everything
squared away."
   She said, "Sure.  I've _heard_ a few hints about places like
Unpleasantville and Vail and Evin talked about JRD Recording last night. 
Who do I talk to?"
   Pat said, "That would probably be Ana.  Let's see if she's available."
   _"Ana, it's Pat, Val and Cynthia.  Got a moment?"_
   _"Sure thing.  It's pretty quiet right now but it's gonna heat up real
fast in a day or so."_
   _"Cynthia's accepted our invitation for Clann membership.  Think JRD can
use an additional hand on the Probe Patrol?  By the way, she can do three
full-depth probes and transcriptions at the same time."_
   _"Three!  Be Jaysus!  We gotta have a talk *real* soon, sweetheart.  Our
next company's EverAlert with fifteen offices scattered around and
something like 2,500 people and 500 customers.  Since they're security,
we're gonna probe them *all*._
   _"You're at Val's place.  How about you guys make the long trek to the
audit center next door and have one of the guys print you up a JRD
non-disclosure form.  Cynthia, you sign it and toss it in the 'to JRD'
basket then you guys can go back to your snogging.  Three!  *Jaysus!*"_
   So we did.  With her form signed and on the way, we came back, got some
sodas and re-formed the Cynthia sandwich.
   She looked at us and asked, "Snogging?"
   We laughed.  I told her, "Just a harmless Irish pastime.  I think Pat's
the one to show you first."
   She turned to him.  Pat drew her face towards his with a finger under
her jaw and kissed her on the mouth.  I knew he's a good kisser and he put
his full attention on it.
   Not passionate but sweet, gentle and so admiring I almost fainted
myself. Kissing him back, Cynthia's hand came up in a hurry and pulled his
head in.  Her body stiffened up and quivered.
   They broke it in about ten seconds.  Panting, Cynthia collapsed against
the back of the sofa and exaggeratedly fanned her chest and face with one
hand, spread her legs and fanned her crotch with the other.
   "Harmless pastime my cherry!  Fuck that lit a fire I didn't know was
there!  Where's those damned butterfly clips?  Holy shit!  Now I know what
you meant by being prepared; Val, if you weren't here, I'd seriously
consider tearing his clothes off and humping my brains out.  Damn!"
   I laughed, "Well, just because I'm here shouldn't stop you!  Seriously,
though, you're right -- it's not completely harmless.  Now that was Pat. 
Come over here and let's try a little snogging ourselves and see what we
'make' of it."
   Her mouth was soft and tender on mine and her breath sweet.  Her skin
under my fingertips was hot with her flush; I felt her fingers on my face,
cool and caressing.  Her tongue was a firebrand in my mouth, and her nipple
came up large and hard against my side.
   Hot damn!  This time both of us fanned ourselves!  I told them, "Louise
should be home pretty quick.  Let's get her to talk with the Golds
*tonight*!  Honey, I don't know about you, but that's damned near better
than Pat and me.  Pat, we need to take a look at some serious butterflies
here at the *very* least.
   "Cynthia, you'd better keep that blouse buttoned tight, your arms across
your chest and your legs crossed for a while or I'll ravish you.  *Damn*
that was something!"
   My nipples were tight and my snatch dripped.  Hot!
   ------
   PATRICK (Wednesday 3/15)
   Cynthia _talked_ with Louise during the day and asked her to do her
birth-control talk with her mom.  Louise agreed readily, contacted her mom
and set up a meet with the three ladies for 5:00 that night.
   Val and I eavesdropped of course.  Cynthia's mom was pretty cool about
the whole thing and Rita and Cynthia agreed it would be a Real Good Idea.
Her mom called the clinic and got appointments for them on Thursday
afternoon.  Well done, Louise!
   Being women, they talked a lot, so Louise brought Cynthia directly to
the Reynolds' for the Clann meeting.
   ------
   ANA (Wednesday 3/15)
   Bob started the Clann meeting by announcing the three new members. 
Madeleine, Dermot and Cynthia stood and took a bow while we cheered them
on.
   I talked to the Clann about DNA tracing.  "This would be a very nice
addition to our tracing services.  We could find lost or missing people or
even lost or missing animals.  There could be a rabid dog loose, a wounded
bear or a dangerous animal.  Quite a few possibilities.  Let's talk a
little about DNA."
   I led them through a quick review of the DNA structure; helixes, chains,
pairs, all that.
   "Now, every cell nucleus in a person's body contains the same DNA.  On a
molecular scale, a DNA strand is *huge*!  With the number of cells in a
body, there's really quite a big pile of 'stuff' to spot rather than one
small molecule, so the task's actually easier than we thought.
   "Now in this petri dish on the table there's a bit of hair from
something.  I won't say what it is, and actually we don't need to know. 
Everyone take a close _look_ down into a couple cell nuclei at the DNA
strands."
   After a few seconds, I told them, "We'll be looking for a good-size mass
of those all together.  Now, when we're on Probe Patrol and looking for a
person, usually by name, we don't dash around _inspecting_ person by
person. Janet showed us the trick in Unpleasantville -- spread out over the
suspected target area and _look_ for the pattern.  We spirits do best at
noticing patterns.
   "Similar to the way Don and Henry talked about the final stages of
teleporting something, look for a partial match, something similar then
narrow down a little and get the match finer.
   "As an exercise, I'll tell you the target is in North Hollywood.  Keep
your traps shut, go hunting, and see what you can find.  Raise your hand if
you spot it.  You've got five minutes."
   The place went quiet.  PVC (PolyVinylChloride = plastic.  Also, Pat, Val
and Cynthia) had their hands up in a second, Janet was next and the rest
trickled in within ninety seconds.
   "That wasn't so hard, was it?  A white mouse at Mario's apartment. 
Okay, here's another hair.  PVC, you go separately this time rather than
all together.  Target's in Southern California.  Hands down and go."
   P&V had their hands up in less than a second, Janet was next along with
Cynthia and the rest trickled in a little faster than before.  They were
all grinning at Kathleen who stood up and shook her hair around.
   "Hair seems to be a common DNA source.  Okay, here's another; suspected
target is the West Coast of the USA.  Go."
   It took P&V around five seconds with the others following in.  They were
all laughing.
   "Yeh, I know, we caught Susan Day up in Redmond at an intimate time. 
Anyway, Bob wore one of Bill's old suits up there and ended up with one of
her hairs on it.  No telling how it got there..."
   Bob was the target this time.  He grinned and threw up his hands in
surrender as Kat pretended to pummel him.
   "The next one's trickier.  Here it is and it's obviously not a hair. 
Let's limit the target area to Burbank and North Hollywood.  Go."
   In several seconds P&V nodded their heads and stuck their hands up.  The
rest followed suit in a little while.
   "Yep.  Ralph's Choice rib eye steak, bought this morning.  Cynthia,
where did you find some?"
   "In your refrigerator.  That was the first place.  Once I saw what it
was, I figured there were multiple targets.  So, I started a map with long
sweeps and found, let's see, five hundred or so before I stopped."
   "You got it, guys.  Notice it really wasn't any more difficult than the
others, simply multiple results.  If a human body was dismembered or
destroyed in an accident, we might well find multiple targets.
   "All righty then.  Another hair here.  Target is the United States. 
Go."
   Pretty much the same results.  P&V in a few seconds with the rest
following.
   Bob told them, "That's my grandfather in Akron, Ohio.  I noticed it on a
Christmas present he sent last year and I saved it for whatever reason. 
Good on ya!  Notice that the area to cover is making only a slight
difference."
   I continued, "Next target, another hair.  Target is within 100 feet of
the Earth's surface, including water.  Go."
   P&V were done in a few seconds.  On queue (from Bob) everyone turned and
stared at Donal.  He got the "who?  me?" look and said, "What would I know
of a Chinese prostitute in Hong Kong?" Mom mock-glared at him and said,
"That's exactly what *I*'d like to know!"
   I finally let him off the hook -- for now.  "I got that from a wig in a
thrift store.  Obviously it's real hair.  Dad, you're still gonna need to
explain why everyone looked at *you*."
   We laughed for a while.  "Okay, another hair sample.  Target Earth. 
Go."
   This took a while.  Pat raised his hand after a minute.  Val and Cynthia
were a few seconds after that then Janet in two minutes.  I cut it off
there.
   "Janet, what did you get?"
   "A grave in Viet Nam.  Very decayed; I could only find a couple million
molecule matches."
   "That's right.  Frank, would you tell us?"
   Frank looked at us.  His eyes were wet.  "It's a lady I loved; the Cong
killed her, and I've kept a lock of her hair for over thirty years."
   His remembered grief pulsed through us.  We were quiet for a while as
Thelma hugged him.  We *all* remembered lost loves.
   After a few moments, I said, "Okay.  Thank you, Frank, for loaning it to
us.  The point on that one was we might actually be able to find a body
even after years.  Maybe solve some missing persons or unsolved
disappearances?
   "Now then for the next one.  It's not DNA; all I'll tell you is that
it's a paint chip.  This time, match the chemical composition and ratios,
very much like matching DNA; the molecules are smaller, but it's the same
concept.  We've not tried this, so let's see how it works.  Target United
States.  Go."
   Dermot popped his hand up a bit before anyone else so I asked him, "What
did you get?"
   "There's a small Ford pickup on the Reynolds Construction yard.  Looking
from there, I spot about three thousand others scattered across the U.S. 
Hmm.  There's something else..."
   He looked thoughtful, stroked his chin and stared in the air a moment.
"Okay.  It's Ford's Skylight Blue, Lot Number 78N65Z manufactured August
2003 in Louisville, Kentucky."
   We gaped at him in awe.  Cynthia finally said, "I'll bite on that one.
How did ya do that?"
   Dermot grinned at us.  "In one glove compartment there's a never-opened
can of touchup paint with all the data printed on the outside.  The paint
inside matches the composition of the paint chip with added volatile fluids
as carriers."
   Shit!  He got us all!  He got lots of female hugs for that -- it didn't
take much excuse for us to hug him.
   "Yes.  That'll teach us to have too narrow a focus.  Very well done. 
You get a special hug for that, honey."
   He asked me, very privately, _"Without your blouse and bra?"_ Shit, I
don't *care* if he's only got a four-year-old body; my nipples perked up.
_"Dirty young man!"_ I _told_ him.
   _"Ain't it fun, though?"_ he grinned at me.
   Yes, it was fun.  Hmm.  Well within Clann policy...  consensual... 
Anyway, back to business.
   "Good!  Next one.  Obviously it's a hair.  I picked it up off my car
seat this morning and have no other data on it.  I suppose it's target
Earth.  Go."
   The usual suspects came in at the usual times.  They looked thoughtful.
I picked Leone this time.  "Leone?"
   "Several strands of hair scattered through a house in Pasadena.  There's
a large lock in a picture on a desk.  By examining the surroundings and
other matches I found in a land fill, it's from Patty Swan, a Pasadena
victim of the January earthquake.  From a newspaper article, her body was
recovered and cremated.
   "There's a funeral urn of ashes next to the picture, but I can't find
any extant DNA at all.  The high crematorium temperature probably destroyed
it all."
   "Very well done, everyone." Steven had his hand up; he looked grim and
sick.  "Steven?"
   He told us, "I got to wondering.  I went to the FBI lab where they have
the Unpleasantville 'souvenirs' stored.  I picked one and looked for DNA
across the U.S.  just like we did the others.
   "Remember a lot of victims went through that meat-packing plant.  I
found five cans of dog food in the lab with human DNA.  I found one 98%
match molecule and several thousand partial matches.  Among them all there
was a 100% match.  Since the meat-packing plant doesn't use the same
temperatures as a cremation, enough survived.
   "Given that, I located another 100 or so cans scattered across the U.S.
There's stuff still out there.  I guess the question is, do we locate them
all and have ramontheeye send it in so they can be recovered or let it go."
   We thought for a while.  Bob asked, "Do I hear a motion of any sort?"
   Cynthia said, "I make a motion the Clann uses the Probe Patrol on a
volunteer basis to locate all these targets.  Also, where bodies have not
been found or it is unknown they went through the packing plant, we give
our best effort from any DNA samples available from any of the known
Unpleasantville victims.  That we attempt to determine and locate the final
disposition and resting place if possible and have ramontheeye forward the
data to the appropriate authority.  Patrick, Valerie, Madeleine, Dermot,
Mary and I volunteer since we're the new kids on the block and haven't done
any official probes."
   Madeleine seconded the motion.  With no further discussion, it was
carried unanimously.  Damned glad it wasn't me.
   Since, I still had the floor, I said, "Thank you.  Myself, I still get
the willies when I work that area.  May your hearts be strong and may you
put your bodies close to a bathroom."
   Wrap it up now.  "Elizabeth will add DNA or chemical tracing to our
services.  Basically, if something has a fairly unique structure like the
paint or we have a DNA sample, we can probably find it.  The fresher the
sample the easier for us, but we'll give anything a shot.  I'd say if we
have something really strange like a wood chip, we may be shit out of luck,
but we'll give anything a shot."
   Bellana stuck her hand up.  Bob recognized her and she said, "Especially
if we find bodies or things to be recovered, we can give an exact location.
Once we have this teleporting down a bit more, we might be able to port a
GPS unit to the place, read off the coordinates and give them as part of
the results."
   Elizabeth said, "I'll add that to the list.  What, another $500 for
exact GPS coordinates?"
   David said, "Whatever the traffic will bear.  For right now, ask them
and see what they're willing to pay."
   I said, "Good.  We'll do it that way.  Maybe for the DNA tracing we'll
throw it in since it's a high-priced package already.  We'll see how it
goes.
   Chapter 30
   ANA (Wednesday 3/15 at the Clann meeting)
   "By the way, EverAlert had given us two background checks and a skip
trace.  Thelma whipped out the background checks in a half hour and Aileen
did the skip trace.  No pain, no sweat.  Thelma and Aileen made a few bucks
and the Clann brought in its first $750.  Not too shabby."
   Applause.  We're gonna be viable.
   I still had the floor for the time being.  "Speaking of the Probe
Patrol, JRD started its audit on EverAlert yesterday.  The audit team is
scrutinizing the books and think they'll be done by Friday, but it may take
longer since there's fifteen offices.
   "We're gonna probe *everyone* because of the nature of the work they
handle, namely, security.  The issue is there's some 3,000 people so we're
going to go hot and heavy.  We're starting the first shift tonight at
midnight so you can get your daily bedtime fun and games done before hand.
   "Four people a shift including ramontheeye.  If a ramon request comes
in, one will handle it.  We'll rotate those requests among the current
shift.
   "As an interesting side note, Miss Cynthia demonstrated she can run
three full-depth probes and transcriptions at the same time.  How about a
bit of applause for *talent*!"
   We applauded and cheered loudly as she grinned and waved.
   I continued, "Being greedy and nosey, we sicced Henry, Janet and Mario
on her to absorb some of her magic.  Mario?"
   Mario stood up.  "First, I'd like to say how much I enjoyed working with
Cynthia." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
   Cynthia promptly leaked to everyone (intentionally), _"Tell me that in
private and we'll find out how much you really enjoy working on -- I mean,
with -- me.  Virginity is transient...  stud."_
   We hooted and hollered as Mario blushed.  Well, Bob *had* warned him
about backing up his mouth.
   "Anyway," he said, "we _watched_ while she did her magic.  At first
look, doing three probes at different locations even with doing all the
transcriptions at the audit center _was_ magic.  We looked closer and
harder in smaller increments until we found out what she was doing.
   "In electronics or computers it's called multiplexing or
multi-processing.  They're not actually all being done at once.  The
attention on a probe, pulls some data, a bit of attention goes to the
transcription and rattles off a few characters or words then the attention
goes to the next probe and next transcription.
   "The way we do it currently is a lot like a keyboardist playing with two
hands; one on the probe target and the other on the transcription. 
Cynthia's learned to span attention among multiple activities, and she's
more like a virtuoso organist playing multiple keyboards with the hands,
multiple keyboards with the feet plus playing the harmonica on a neck
stand. Okay then, the mechanism was known.
   "Since Henry and I are the macho men we are, we couldn't let a mere
female outdo us, so we tried it along with Janet.  The upshot is we each
can do two probes fairly consistently and three for a short time.
   "Cynthia, however, is able to pump out three consistently and went up to
five for ten minutes -- before she had to start breathing again.
   "My guesstimate is most of us can handle two, and we'll see what
practice does.  With doing two at a time, we can increase our throughput by
around 80%.  We don't double, since we still have the computer network
latency of file saves and creates, but we've got a good thing here.  Good
on ya, Cynthia.  You're a *winner*!"
   More cheers for the young lady.
   My final words, "Fine!  We'll start handling the extra Unpleasantville
volunteer probes after we finish EverAlert.  Unpleasantville DNA will
probably still be around even after several days to a week or more delay,
while EverAlert is production and income.  See most of you tonight."
   Evin had a few words.  "The JRD Recording makeover is going very well.
Madeleine MacKenna, who you met Monday, has accepted the position of JRD
Global Sales Manager and will be overseeing all sales and promotional
areas. So besides becoming Clann, you'll see a lot more of her and Dermot
around.  Let's hear it for Madeleine!"
   More cheers, applause and some hugs from those near her.  Females found
it another good excuse to hug Dermot.
   Mom took a turn now.  "Notice there's a lot of us Irish here, and even
our name is Irish: Clann Reynolds.  This Friday, the seventeenth, is St. 
Patrick's Day so we expect a lot of support.
   "Any of you who need some green for Friday are welcome to some shamrock
pins we found.  Ladies should take 'Irish by Injection' and men get 'Irish
by Osmosis.' If for whatever reason the term doesn't apply to you, look me
or Donal up; we'll be more than happy to remedy the situation.
   "Just so you know, if you don't show your support for us Friday, the
ladies just might be subject to correction by the Leprechaun's Staff and
the guys to the Cauldron of Fire.  David and Elizabeth volunteered to be
the Enforcers, so watch out!"
   We got a good laugh.  However, Mom, Dad and the elder Reynolds were
looking pretty serious!  After the meeting, I noticed Mama and Papa Sonora
talking intensely with Mom and Dad, while Blake and Louise were discussing
something with the Reynolds.  Hmm, maybe some fun and games?
   Don ostentatiously picked up an Irish by Osmosis pin and grinned at me
while putting it on.  I figured we'd better ensure his osmosis was
up-to-date; it would take several times to ensure it caught.
   ------
   PATRICK (Wednesday 3/15)
   The Clann meeting lasted until 9:00.  Val and I escorted Cynthia
directly home so she could finish up her last few minutes of homework. 
Both of us got a nice hug and sweet kiss as a reward.  Damn, I gotta watch
myself; she turns me on almost as fast as Valerie does!
   Val and I discussed it.  She said, "I know our relationship's only six
weeks old, but that's the sex and the free-spirit part -- discounting our
little fling during the sex bomb.  Actually our deep friendship goes back
over five years.  I have no doubt of *our* viability or compatibility."
   I grinned at her.  "Sounds like you're trying to talk me into a troika
here, Sweet Woman."
   "Well...  shit, Pat, I really *like* the girl a *lot* besides the fact
she turns me on like a fire hydrant.  Okay, guy, you talk."
   "Right.  Now, we've actually known her for what, two weeks now?  Since
around the second of March?  Not a long time compared to our relationship.
   "On the other hand we've spent a lot of time with her during those two
weeks; more time than we've spent with anyone else from the gang, actually.
School between classes, lunch every day, a couple hours after school and
several hours per day on the weekends.
   "She's one of us; she's smart and has balls like basketballs.  I've
never heard of anyone coming back at Bob so fast and so cleverly; see what
she did with Mario tonight?
   "She's talented -- hell I just barely made two probes and she ran five?
Who knows what other talents we might find.
   "She's our age.  While she's just getting into puberty, we're on the
downhill side, hopefully.  There's still a match; she's not a 'little girl'
by any stretch of *my* imagination.  Physically she'll probably get another
foot and a half taller so she won't be tiny compared to us."
   She said, "Right, a little girl she's not.  We've got similar interests,
similar intelligence, similar a lot of stuff.  We haven't had the slightest
hint of actual conflict among us; granted we've had some intense
discussions of how to do some of the Inner Circle and Brain Trust stuff
,but we ended up in amicable agreement with everyone happy.
   "So, Conan, Captain of My Heart, what do we do?  Invite her in as a
troika?  Bang her brains out then find an S.O.  for her?  What?"
   I shook my head.  "Dunno.  However, we've got colleagues we can consult!
The Wild Bunch would probably say it's the greatest thing in the world and
grab her, now!
   "On the other hand, we know Sherry's been in a temporary troika with Don
and Ana as well as Bob and Kathleen.  Let's make a talk with her, if she
and Mario aren't 'up to something' right now."
   "For a guy, you have good ideas at times.  Let's check it out."
   We _peeked_ at Sherry.  She and Mario were kicked back on his love seat
talking.
   _Knock, knock.  "Sherry, Mario?  It's Pat and Val.  Got a few minutes
for some advice for the lovelorn?"_
   Sherry _said, "Sure, Mario always has good advice.  He talked with his
cousin Julio for thirty seconds, and my sister's already aching to jump his
bones."_
Mario: _"Just call me Donny Juanny, Jr., Mi Enamorada."_
Me: _"Actually, I think it's Sherry we need this time."_
We laid it all out for them.  How we felt about Cynthia, what we'd
talked about and how sexually attracted we were.
   Val: _"So what questions should we be asking ourselves now, oh wise
woman with vast experience?"_
Sherry: _"Fuck, I'm neither wise nor have vast experience.  With both
Don/Ana and Bob/Kathleen, we knew at the beginning it was temporary.  There
was -- and is -- a tremendous amount of love, but we knew ahead of time it
was to be very good friends with very good benefits.  Bob and Kat told me,
'Join us for a while and let us love you unreservedly -- no strings
attached, no regrets and always love among us.' We knew I eventually wanted
a man of my own; it was *my* preference, *my* desire._
_"When Mario and I found each other, they were all delighted for us. 
There's still love there among us all._
   _"Now let's talk about Cynthia.  Yes, she's all you said she is: smart,
sexy, gutsy, everything.  She's also told you outright she doesn't know
what she wants or what her preferences are.  She's a virgin with hormones
running.  A very old, wise spirit as many of you are, but none-the-less a
virgin this lifetime._
   _"Hmm.  Bellana, she immediately linked and merged with Henry and Janet
and found their love immediately.  She was virginal and unsure, but that
didn't matter._
   _"*Most* everyone else, including Mario and me, had a thunderbolt, a
Colpo di tuono, a sharing of souls when we first met *if* we were
remembering to a reasonable degree.  From what you say, that didn't happen
with Cynthia.  Blake and Louise had a small sharing of souls at the
beginning; it simply wasn't the thunderbolt.  It was more the rapid
build-up of mutual admiration, and they weren't remembering at that
particular time._
   _"On the other hand, it didn't happen with me and George either, but we
weren't 'spiritually aware' then, either; we grew into it.  You two are
special cases in a way since we had to pump so much energy into you to get
you remembering in the first place._
   _"Hmm.  Question.  You'd met with your counselor and were looking for
prospects when you first did a bone-deep inspection on her, right?"_
   Us: _"Yeh.  We literally picked her up and carried her away.  Hell, she
even asked if the threesome was before or after lunch." Grin._
Mario: _"If I might put my oar in here...  I'll bet while you were
stalking the halls looking for prey, you had your full-blown shields and
body armor on trip, yes?"_
Us: _"Uh, yep.  Standard Operating Procedure."_
Mario: _"Okay.  Now, you've spent a hell of a lot of time with her since
then.  Have you ever totally dropped your firewalls and actually shared
yourselves spiritually with her?  Merged or linked with her?"_
Us: _"Hmm.  No.  99% of the time we have our full firewalls up because
we tend to be so loud.  Excellent point."_
Sherry: _"The Fearsome Five coached her gently out and trained her
immediately, and she's been wearing her firewall ever since.  Okay, guys.
My advice for what it's worth:_
_"First, get her out where you can drop your firewalls completely and
let your hair down.  Go behind the Moon, out to Jupiter, wherever._
   _"Next, you know the compatibility-test merges.  Use them and see what
you three've got._
   _"Then if it looks good and you're still interested, ask her.  Make her
at least a conditional offer to join you at least temporarily.  Hell, even
as solid as the Wild Bunch is, any of them could find someone else even
more suited.  You two are the only ones I know of who knowingly have that
millennia-long search-and-found going on._
   _"She's young, you're young.  How are her memories?"_
   Us: _"Fabulous.  Clear, long-ranging and more coming back all the
time."_
Sherry: _"Great!  That tends to say you're pretty well matched in
spiritual capabilities.  Look at her raw power, too.  You two are the most
powerful around."_
Mario: _"Also, if you note what happened tonight when we were doing the
DNA tracing, Cynthia was only a bit behind P&V.  To me, that says she's
probably well within the range of you guys at least in sensitivity of that
nature."_
Sherry: _"Excellent point.  As yet another aside here, I noticed the
first trace, all three of you came in the same time.  Then, Ana told you
three to go separately.  What were you doing the first time?"_
Us: _"Hmm.  Well, we were all in firewalls, VPN'd and working together.
Pat and I spread out and did the first general look then Cynthia drilled
right down to it."_
Mario: _"All right!  Idea here.  We can link together lots of smaller
computer systems and treat them as a massive computer.  You three appeared
to be operating that way.  Let's check out combinations and see what
happens._
_"Then again...  let's try sharing spirit-space so to speak.  Snuggle up
and share the firewall, work together internally and fuck the VPNs except
for the power ones.  Perhaps even merge and operate almost as one.  Maybe
we've got another jump ahead in flexibility."_
   Us: _"*Like* that idea.  We're both on Probe Patrol tonight together;
we'll ask Ana to let us try it."_
Sherry: _"Great!  Let's not leave Cynthia hanging out in the cold.  Take
her out, drop your shields, and do your tests.  Then just ask.  The worst
she'll do is tell you to fuck off and take a hike; she won't play any games
with you that way._
_"Another thing: she's still physically small and delicate compared to
you two.  Both of you remember when you started changing?  Aches, pains,
awkward, all that?  Her breasts are probably sore a lot of the time._
   _"Even if nothing relationship-wise works out among you, get her into
physical conditioning.  You two told us you exercise, stretch, all that. 
Get her in on it so she can stand up under the strain._
   _"Restrain yourselves.  You've heard of a Journey to the Gates of
Heaven? Surfing the tsunami?"_
   Us: _"Yeh.  Sounds fascinating.  We haven't been able to last that long
ourselves."_
Sherry: _"Then don't even *think* of trying it with her for a while. 
Bob took me on a short Journey, and I damned near collapsed physically for
a couple days after that.  He and Kat, David and Elizabeth do Journeys, but
they work out intensively and can stand the strain._
   _"So good luck.  No matter what happens, we love you all."_
   ------
   VALERIE (Wednesday evening 3/15)
   Around 10:30, we popped outside, grabbed Cynthia and took off.  I told
her, _"We have to do a few things and need a lot of room."_
   She was curious but said, _"Okay.  We're gonna do something kinky, I
hope."_
   Pat and I laughed.  He said, _"Yeh, really kinky.  Just in case, let's
get a lot of distance."_
   We blinked to the "dark" side of the Moon.  I told Cynthia, _"One thing
Pat and I haven't done with you is totally drop our firewalls.  We started
out so damned loud we've kept them up 24/7 since then.  You and we need to
do a few things."_
   We told her about _merging_, the compatibility testing and what it
showed.  Pat and I slowly dropped our firewalls and "relaxed." Damn.  We'd
gotten used to the constriction; the freedom felt strange and was like
taking off a tight bra.  We let ourselves expand until we were completely
comfortable.  We did a thorough security check for several thousand miles
around and found it clear.
   Pat told Cynthia, _"Honey, drop your firewall completely and relax
totally.  We need to be au naturel for this."_
   She did and gradually expanded in size until she was just a bit larger
than me.  _"Very nice, honey,"_ I told her, _"You feel wonderful."_
   Pat and I _merged_, _snuggled_ around and had her _look_ at the results.
Pat said, _"The glow or florescence is the reinforcing areas held together
with our admiration and love.  There's a couple gray flecks here and there
showing disharmony; the darker and larger, the more the disharmony."_
   We mocked up a major disharmony and she _saw_ how ugly it got.  She
said, _"Then this shows two spirits who'd probably have a hard time getting
along; they'd always be falling over it, so to say."_
   Pat said, _"You got it.  That's what we think.  The Inner Circle's done
a lot of cross-testing this way.  For example, Kathleen and I have only a
few gray spots, but the florescence is only a mild glow; kinda like the
difference between a small candle and a lighthouse.  That tells us while
we're totally fine working, playing or being around each other, the sheer
amount or depth of love and admiration between us isn't anywhere near what
you saw between Val and me."_
   I told her, _"Kat said she, Bob and Sherry did extensive testing
together before they started their troika.  They did very well in all
combinations, but found a major dark spot: Sherry really wanted a man of
her own.  Just finding that out enabled them to set up their agreement for
a temporary relationship._
   _"Okay, Cynthia.  If it's okay with you, Pat and I want to find out the
compatibilities and discords among the three of us.  Merging is *very*
intimate spiritually even more than sex, so if you don't care to, we'll
understand."_
   Cynthia said, _"Not an issue at all.  Just the little snog we did
yesterday made me feel wonderful and not just physically.  Let's do it."_
   Pat said, _"You and me first.  Slowly, slowly, let it flow together."_
   They _merged_, jostled around a couple seconds then settled together. 
Cynthia shrieked, _"It's so wonderful!  It feels like everything good I've
ever experienced is here all at the same time!"_
   We immediately _felt_ about twenty probes from various Clann members. 
Bob told us, _"Please, try to keep it down.  You're rattling windows and
people of the entire side of Earth, guys.  Dayum, that's beautiful!"_
   Cynthia quieted down to a whisper.  They were not only fluorescing but
there were also bands of colors winding throughout.  We looked at several
tiny gray spots; most were trivial (she likes liver and onions!  The
horror!), and the only one of any magnitude was her uncertainty about what
kind of relationship she actually desired and wanted.
   Sherry told her, _"Cynthia, my suggestion is not to worry about that
one. You've literally got unlimited time to find out your preferences. 
Perhaps in your case, you simply need to try things out to find what you
like."_
   Janet said, _"That's lovely, you two.  Now how about Valerie and
Cynthia?"_
   Pat and Cynthia "broke" apart then she and I slowly merged together.  So
nice and comfortable!  We were full of warmth, admiration and love.  We saw
the same gray spot of uncertainty but now knew what it was.
   Kathleen observed, _"You've got colors, too.  Different and in different
places.  Okay, folks, figure out what the colors mean; we haven't seen this
before."_
   They put probes into us and looked around.  It "tickled" and we squirmed
a little.  Don said, _"Hey, several more color swirls came and went. 
Cynthia, give Val a little spirit-tickle."_
   She did and it tickled.  More color swirls ran around and died away.
   Bob asked, _"Don, could that be something like a diffraction grating?"_
   Don replied, _"Ya know, it could be exactly that.  Okay you two, settle
down where you are and put your attention out on us."_
   The fluorescence settled down to a very brilliant white.  _"Yep,"_ Don
said, _"that's what's happening.  They were moving around against each
other a tiny bit.  That changes the harmonies a touch because they move
against each other, so the colors come from the tiny differences until they
phase in again.  It's like a vibrato in music where there's tiny shifts
around the center of something to keep the note centered around a pitch._
   _"That's what happens when you get several instruments or voices playing
together and why the result is so much richer."_
   Kathleen asked, _"Then why didn't Bob and I show colors like that?  When
we first found out about merging last year, we were merged for something
like five minutes and nothing like this happened."_
   Bellana said, _"Well, for one thing, your attention was to the outside,
towards us as we were probing.  Valerie and Cynthia are probably squirming
around against each other like kittens and feeling each other up."_
   Cynthia said, _"She sure *is* feeling me up and it's great!"_
   We laughed.  I said, _"Bob, how about you and Kathleen do a merge and
give us a little snog."_
   Beautiful.  They had bright colors swirling around all over and flared
brilliantly.
   Sherry said, _"Okay, okay, okay!  Do I have to get out the water buckets
again?"_
   Henry said, _"Well, you three, since you're basically doing the deed in
public here, let's get the three of you together at once and see what we've
got."_
   One *could* say we were doing very intimate things in public.  Oh, well.
Pat joined us in a three-way merge.  After we jostled around a few seconds,
we settled out in the way it felt best.
   Bellana said, _"No tickling!  Hold still and let's see what we've got."_
   We flared together!  It was cool and hot, calming and energizing, all
sorts of seemingly-contradictory sensations and emotions all smoothly
blending together.  Only a small gray spot remained with Cynthia's
uncertainty.
   Henry said, _"Okay, Pat, grab a couple sweet butts."_
   Cynthia and I said, _"Ooo!  That's nice, Pat.  Do me!  Do me!"_ Giggles.
   Colors promptly swirled, faded in and out then everything calmed down
again.
   Bob said, _"I guess that settles that.  What say, guys?  Should we
'permit' these three out in public together or are they too hot for the
mundanes to handle?"_
   Riona said, _"Keep the fire hoses close!  If they promise to behave,
maybe it's okay."_
   We promised to be a good little boy and good little girls.
   Aileen asked, _"So, how many can we pile together?  Do we even try?"_
   I said, _"Hell, yes, we try.  Colin, we barely know you, so how about
you pile in here, too."_
   He piled in with us.  We squirmed around and got somewhat comfortable;
it felt a little unwieldy.  Yeh, the glow's intensity dropped a little.  We
piled several more in.  Yow!  Kinda like a football pileup.  Everyone was
grabbing a bit of everyone else.
   Bob said, _"Makes sense.  Somewhat like linking, the more you add, the
lighter the actual link needs to be so you can tell who's doing what to
whom.  Now instead of trying to merge, try getting aligned.  Think of
working together to pick up a big table or something."_
   That was a different arrangement.  It was like a jigsaw puzzle fitting
and made a team working together.
   Mario said, _"There's what, ten in there?  Betcha that construct could
handle thirty or forty probes at once, all inside one firewall."_
   Alyssa said, _"Ana will love to try that."_
   Kathleen said, _"Yep, she sure will.  Okay, gang, we've had our fun and
games.  Let's let PVC get back to what they were doing before we rudely
interrupted their get-together.  We've all got Probe Patrol at one time or
another tonight."_
   The rest scattered back home, leaving us alone.  Pat said, _"We're
scheduled for 3:00 to 4:00 so that leaves us over three hours."_
   Cynthia laughed, _"Oh, whatever shall we find to do to pass the time?"_
   Pat said, _"Well, sweetheart, the main reason Val and I brought you here
in the first place was to look at our compatibility together, and I'd say
we've found out we're very compatible._
   _"Valerie and I have discussed this intensely.  We've fallen in love
with you, each for common and different reasons.  We're inviting you to
join us in a relationship at least until we've helped you sort out what
*you* want."_
   My turn, _"The only guarantee we can offer you about the future is that
we'll probably always love you and hope you'll love us.  No strings
attached or solemn promises until you discover what *you* truly desire. 
When you do, we'll support your decision whether or not it means you'd no
longer be with us."_
   Cynthia spirit-hugged and _kissed_ us.  _"You are two *wonderful*
people. Over the past few weeks I've been hoping I'd find someone I could
have a relationship with anywhere near yours.  I didn't want to put myself
between you, but I fell in love with you both after a few days.  I would be
honored to join you and to love you unreservedly no matter what the future
brings._
   _"Now where do we find some butterfly clips?  I can't wait to get
started!"_
   Pat laughed.  _"Eager like we are.  However, we're first gonna get you
into physical training so you'll be able to bear up under the strain.  We
plan to molest you unmercifully until you can't stand!"_
   _"Oh, fuck.  Back to PE again."_
   I said, _"It'll be worse than that.  On the other hand, now you'll have
an excellent reason for doing it.  By the time we're done, all of us will
be able to make love for hours and still get up for school in the morning.
We start this morning; we'll meet you out front of your place at 6:30 and
start with a brisk walk.  We've gotta get into it gradually ourselves since
we've been slacking off so much lately."_
   We spent the next hours exploring, spirit-hugging, _kissing_, _merging_
and winding through and through each other, _sharing_ our love and
happiness while making lovely rainbows.
   ------
   SIOBHAN (Wednesday evening 3/15)
   I arranged for Madeleine and Dermot to come over to our place for our
celebration.  Right after the Clann meeting, I mentioned to Evin she was
coming over for a while to yak about work; I didn't mention anything else.
   Alyssa was staying over with Colin and Doug was here with Riona.  By
now, they would spend a night or so a week-night with their sweeties with a
couple at each place.  The weekends -- open to whatever.
   Dermot told me, _"I'll stay in the second guest room.  If Riona and Doug
make too much noise, I'll go join them; I betcha Doug and I can put her out
for the night within thirty minutes."_
   When they got there, Dermot let his body sleep on a chair in the den. 
After we'd talked for around 45 minutes, I told Evin, "How about you head
on to bed.  I'll wrap up things here with Mad and be there in a few
minutes."
   He said, "Sure.  Madeleine, I'm pleased beyond words to have you working
with us.  I've always admired your abilities, and I know things will work
out great." He gave her a big hug then walked away trying to hide the boner
which had popped up.
   Dermot mused to Mad and me, _"That's not the only thing he's admired
about Mom."_
   Mad and Dermot went to his guest room.  He got the bed ready while Mad
did a quick wash-up and changed into her killer nightie.  When Dermot had
finished with his night-time ablutions and was in bed, she came out to help
me finish closing up the house for the night.
   I went into our bathroom and did my cleanup; a nasty baby-doll was just
fine.  When I was done, I gave Mad the _high sign_, put out the light and
stirred around a few seconds in the room while Mad slipped in.
   I got in with Evin and distracted him with a hand in the appropriate
place while Mad slipped quietly in behind him.  A couple seconds after he
and I had snuggled up, she shoved her boobs in his back and her pelvis up
against his butt.  She whispered, "It's celebration time, Evin!"
   He decided to cooperate with the inevitable.  Oh, yeh, Mad was even more
sensual than she'd been years ago; being married a couple years had given
her lots of experience.
   I don't know if Dermot got woken up or not; after a few minutes working
Evin over, we figured he could take care of himself.
   ------
   ANA (Wednesday 3/15)
   Around 11:30 that night, an hour after I sensed a "disturbance in the
Force," Mario popped by with an idea.  We put the on-shift probers together
as a team under one firewall and tried multiple probes.
   Jaysus, we had something here!  Together, the four were able easily to
handle nine probes and transcriptions at once while working without strain.
Yeh, they had to pay attention, but it worked great!  Hell, that more than
doubles our throughput, and it was actually easier on each person!  Yes!
   After talking with Frank, I put him *and* Thelma on analysis; there was
too much data for one person to run through.  We'd developed a checklist of
routine items to check on each probe.  After a couple hours, Frank and
Thelma came back with a few more areas to check.  We added them to the
checklist, and I had the current shift go back and re-probe the ones we'd
done if that data wasn't in their dossier.
   By around 3:00 we'd processed about 275 targets.  We'd started at the
top of the organization and worked down.  Nothing major so far; a few
issues with timesheets, a couple guys fudging their time here and there, a
couple illegals, but no Sherman Tanks so far.  All duly noted for
appropriate action.
   Frank and Thelma did spot something unusual for further investigation.
One manufacturing company EverAlert was doing with 24/7 routine building
guards had been requesting a complete personnel change every week.
   Frank was suspicious because most companies prefer to have the same
guards as long as possible because they could become very familiar with the
grounds, traffic patterns, personnel, etc.  To him, requesting new
personnel every week said the company was hiding something and didn't want
the security force to notice it.  Also, in the last couple weeks, the
guards had been quietly approached several times with subtle bribe offers
to be in a certain part of the grounds during certain time periods.
   Okay.  I put the next shift on investigating the company.  Oh, yeh, they
had something to hide all right.  They'd been smuggling in illegal aliens
for slave labor.  Mostly Chinese with a fair number of Thai.
   They came in the big shipping containers ships use for bulk transport.
Usually about 25% of the people died on the way, and the conditions inside
were horrendous.
   On the return trip for the containers, they smuggled out electronic
equipment and luxury goods along with the normal freight.  They were making
money hand over fist.
   Okay, we fired up ramontheeye and the shift sent off fifty dossiers to
the appropriate INS and FBI agents.
   Now, back to more EverAlert while we kept an eye on ramon's accounts for
messages.
   
  
Sorcerer Clann Ch 21-30